Breast Pathology and Cancer Diagnosis

Less Common Types of Breast Cancer

Research has developed ways of grouping breast cancers into different types. They sometimes call rarer breast cancers special type and the more common breast cancers no special type. More than 90% of breast cancers are invasive carcinoma and 10% are rare types of cancers. The rare types of breast cancers are, medullary breast cancer About 5 out of 100 breast cancers (5%) are medullary breast cancers. The cancer cells tend to be bigger than other breast cancer cells. Mucinous (mucoid or colloid) breast cancers about 2 in 100 breast cancers (2%) are mucinous breast cancers. This type of cancer tends to be slower growing than other types of breast cancers and is less likely to spread to the lymph nodes. Tubular breast cancer is called tubular because the cells look like tubes when seen under a microscope. Only about 1 in 100 breast cancers (1%) are tubular cancers.