Can anyone explain what a lobule is?

flower123

Does anyone know what this word means? I looked it up and I still don't understand what it is.

Thanks,

Flower 

Beesie

Breast profile:

A ducts

B lobules

C dilated section of duct to hold milk

D nipple

E fat

F pectoralis major muscle

G chest wall/rib cage

Enlargement:

A normal duct cells

B basement membrane

C lumen (center of duct)

http://www.breastcancer.org/pictures/breast_anatomy/image_1.jsp

Lobes, Lobules and Breast Cancer Each breast is composed of up to 20 sections called "lobes." Each lobe is made up of many smaller "lobules," where milk is made. Lobes and lobules are connected by small tubes called "ducts" that can carry milk to the nipple.   http://www.womenshealthzone.net/cancer/breast-cancer/lobes-lobules/

Anonymous

flower----the lobules are where the mllk is produced in the breast. As you can see from the picture Bessie posted, they are like little bunches of grapes (only much smaller in size of course) and there's hundreds of them (perhaps thousands). Lobular bc is much more uncommon than ductal bc, and also much harder to detect thru imaging.

Anne

leaf

The picture is a bit misleading as far as the location of the lobules.  They aren't all nested around the pectoralis muscles.  Lobules are in many places in the breast, including just underneath the areola. The ducts are not semi-straight tubes; ducts often twist and turn, much like a sagebrush.  Ducts may branch, but they don't normally intersect.

flower123

Thank you so much everyone. I wonder if my lump is a lobule. I hope that it is, since it is all I have been thinking about. 

Thanks,

Flower 

leaf

I doubt if you'd be able to feel a solitary lobule.

Normal, sexually mature breast showed an average lobular surface of 0.23 sq mm http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7301774

Most breast lumps are either the benign fibroadenomas or the almost always benign cyst (fluid filled sac).  Overall, if you lump all age groups together, about 80% of breast biopsies turn out to be benign.  If you are post-menopausal and have a breast lump,you have a somewhat greater chance that breast lumps are cancerous.

georgeallen194

Hi Everyoe,

lobule is small part of liver defined at the historical scale...