Infiltrative vs. Invasive Carcinoma?

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LizzieMom
LizzieMom Member Posts: 3
edited June 2014 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

I was recently reading what I considered a reputable website but have since started to question its validity. It indicates that there is a difference between Invasive and Infiltrative Carcinoma. I thought they were interchangeable. 

Here is what the website says> "Infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma of the generic type (NOS) is by far the most common breast cancer type, and represents about 78% of all cases. The term 'infiltrating' vs. 'invasive' is somewhat related to the cancer stage; if the ductal carcinoma is infiltrating the duct wall, then it will usually be termed 'infiltrating', but if the cancer cells ard found beyond the duct wall and are starting to 'invade' the surrounding tissue, then it will be termed 'invasive' ductal carcinoma. Obviously, and 'invasive' ductal carcinoma suggests a more serious situation and the surival rates will most likely be slightly lower. Tumor size also plays a big role in survival with these breast tumours. On mammogram, infiltrating ductal breast carcinomas often can appear star-shaped, or 'stellate'."

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited January 2013

    Here is the defintion from Breastcancer.org:

    Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), sometimes called infiltrating ductal carcinoma, is the most common type of breast cancer. About 80% of all breast cancers are invasive ductal carcinomas.

    Here is the complete link:

    http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/idc 

    Your blurb indicates "infiltrating" ductal carcinoma represents about 78% of cases of breast cancer, and BCO says "invasive" ductal carcinoma represents 80% of breast cancer cases, so unless they are the same the math doesn't add up.  Both things describe cancer that has moved beyond the duct, no longer ductal carcinoma in situ, so regardless of what it is called that is what it is describing.  It is a question of synonyms, not one being worse than the other.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited January 2013

    LizzieMom, the link that you provided doesn't include the quote that you mentioned. In the link, they do seem to use the terms "infiltrating" and "invasive" somewhat interchangeably - both are referred to as IDC.  And the following statement from the site suggests that both the terms "invasive" and "infilitrating" can be broadly used to cover about 80% of breast cancer cases:

    "Invasive ductal carcinoma is thought to account for up to 80% of all breast cancers. Often the phrase 'infiltrating ductal carcinoma' is used as a label for all carcinomas not otherwise designated as an recognizable type. (NOS or 'not otherwise specified')" IDC NOS represents ~80% of all cases of IDC. It covers all IDC that is not of an unusual or specific type.  Example of specific types (that wouldn't be IDC NOS) are ILC, mucinous carcinoma, papillary carcinoma, tubular carcinoma, etc.. 

    What they are suggesting however is that technically there is a slight difference between the two terms, in that infiltrating can be used in cases where the cancer has started to infiltrate the duct wall, whereas invasive should only be used if cancer cells have fulled moved into open breast tissue.  That seems like a pretty subtle difference. Those definitions would probably only exclude a very small percent of cases from being called "invasive" ductal cancer vs. "infiltrating".

    I think this is similar to discussions about the terms "excisional biopsy", "lumpectomy" and "partial mastectomy".  In a textbook, there are minor differences between these procedures, but in practice, the terms are used interchangeably and someone who is having an partial mastectomy is really having the same surgery as someone else who's had a lumpectomy or an excisional biopsy.  So while there may be minor textbook differences between infilitrating ductal carcinoma and invasive ductal carcinoma, in practical use the terms are interchangeable. 

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  • jacee
    jacee Member Posts: 1,384
    edited January 2013

    This is interesting. To Beesie's point, my Aflac cancer policy pays a different amount for each of these...cutting excisional biopsy, lumpectomy and partial mastectomy. I wonder what they see the difference as?

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  • bcfree2013
    bcfree2013 Member Posts: 94
    edited January 2013

    My path report used infiltrating, and my doctor says it is the same as invasive.

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  • Wren44
    Wren44 Member Posts: 8,585
    edited January 2013

    I like infiltrating because it sounds sneakier.

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  • fifthyear
    fifthyear Member Posts: 225
    edited January 2013

    My path report also used infiltrating. It does sound like spy doesn't it?

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