Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC)

• Lobular carcinoma begins in the lobes or lobules (glands that make breast milk). The lobules are connected to the ducts, which carry breast milk to the nipple.

• Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS): It begins in the lobules and does not typically spread through the wall of the lobules to the surrounding breast tissue or other parts of the body. While these abnormal cells seldom become invasive cancer, their presence indicates an increased risk of developing breast cancer later. About 25 percent of women with LCIS will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. This subsequent breast cancer may occur in either breast and may appear in the lobules or the ducts.

• Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common type of breast cancer, after invasive ductal carcinoma. About 10% of all breast cancers are ILC.

• Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC): It starts in the lobules, invades nearby tissue, and can spread (metastasize) to distant parts of the body.

• The treatment options for invasive lobular carcinoma include localized approaches such as surgery and radiation therapy that treat the tumor and the surrounding areas, as well as systemic treatments such as chemotherapy and hormonal or targeted therapies that travel throughout the body to destroy cancer cells that may have spread from the original tumor.

• Invasive lobular carcinoma is a type of breast cancer that begins in the milk-producing glands (lobules) of the breast.

• Invasive lobular carcinoma makes up a small portion of all breast cancers. The most common type of breast cancer begins in the breast ducts (invasive ductal carcinoma).

• Invasive cancer means the cancer cells have broken out of the lobule where they began and have the potential to spread to the lymph nodes and other areas of the body.