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What Is Mucinous Carcinoma Of The Breast?
Mucinous carcinoma of the breast is a very rare form of the breast cancer of the milk ducts called invasive ductal carcinoma. Invasive means the cancer is spreadable.
Mucinous carcinoma is also known by the alternative name of colloid carcinoma. This cancer is responsible for about 2 to 3 percent of breast cancer. What characterizes this cancer from others is that the cancer cells float in a substance called mucin, which is found in a slimy clear fluid called mucus. Mucus is a normal healthy fluid of the body that surrounds our vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, heart, breast, and so on. However, in the case of Mucinous carcinoma the cancer cells actually live in this mucus. The cancer cells become part of the cancerous tumor. The usual age for women to contract this disease is after menopause, around the age of sixty. Mucinous carcinoma is not likely to spread to the lymph nodes making it easier to treat.
Symptoms
Like just about all cancers there are no symptoms at the earlier stages, until a lump is discovered either through a self-breast examination or by the doctor. These tumors are very very small.
Mammogram
A mammogram may discover the tumor, but these tumors often look like benign tumors. They have well defined edges that press up against healthy cells but do not spread into them
Ultrasound
An ultrasound will use sound ways to further confirm if mucinous carcinoma is present by taken images of breast tissue.
MRI
These imaging pictures will also find mucinous carcinoma and other cancers if present
Biopsy
A biopsy will either take the entire tumor out by needle or a sample is taken for further examination under the microscope. A biopsy is a better diagnostic tool because the machines cannot differentiate one cancer from another. Only a pathologist can make that differentiation from what he or she sees under the microscope.
The pathologist is going to look for abnormal cells floating in a pool of mucin. There could be more mucin and fewer cells, or the reverse, more cells and less mucin. Mucinous carcinoma might also be found among other forms of cancer, such as ductal carcinoma the spreading, or the non-spreading kind. To be a pure mucinous carcinoma 90 percent of the cells must be mucinous carcinoma. If there is less than that, the cancer is called mixed mucinous carcinoma. Mucinous carcinoma cells are estrogen driven cancer cells, about 50 to 68 per cent can also have progesterone receptors as well. Pure mucinous carcinoma cells do not spread to the lymph nodes. However, mixed mucinous carcinoma cells may. It would always be a good idea to get a second opinion after receiving the cancer pathology report as this job is done by humans who can make mistakes in diagnosis.
Treatment options
Your doctor will sit down and discuss the best treatment plan for you. For example, pure mucinous carcinoma does not spread and is easier to treat but mixed mucinous carcinoma may and it will require more aggressive treatment. Here is a rundown of the type of treatment offered for mucinous carcinoma at this time:
Lumpectomy
The surgeon may remove the lump in the breast and a bit of healthy tissue around it and he may remove some lymph nodes.
Total or simple mastectomy
The doctor may remove the entire breast, but would not remove any lymph nodes.
Modified radical mastectomy
Modified radical mastectomy is a procedure not used for pure mucinous carcinoma. However, if the condition is mixed mucinous carcinoma then the surgeon may remove the breast, the lining of the chest wall, and some lymph nodes.
Hormone Therapy and or chemotherapy may be used in addition to surgery. If hormone therapy is chosen, the drug commonly used is Tamoxifen. Mucinous carcinoma is hormone receptive positive which means that estrogen fuels the growth of this type of breast cancer and drugs like Tamoxifen will block the receptors for estrogen. Chemotherapy is not usually opted for unless the lumps are on the larger size and then both hormonal therapy and chemotherapy may be required.