Is LCIS the only form of BC that causes mets?

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Bcky
Bcky Member Posts: 167
edited March 2015 in LCIS (Lobular Carcinoma In Situ)

I have IDC; DCIS and LCIS (ILC). It seems that when I read Stage 4 Mets threads I am finding it is LCIS(ILC) predominantly and IDC that causes mets. Am I correct? or wrong? Would love some answers. Can DCIS or IBC cause mets too? Can IDC cause mets alone without LCIS (ILC)? Needless to say I am terrified of Mets after a scare when they found a shadow on my rib in October but decided it was a shadow and not cancer. So I read all I can on mets so that in the event this rib issue turns out bad later in years I am prepared.

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited March 2015

    By definition, LCIS (by itself) is NOT invasive and thus, by itself, cannot metastasize. By definition, it has not passed the basement membrane that separates the lobules and ducts from the stroma (inside) of the breast tissue. LCIS is found with invasive breast cancer sometimes; in this study about 40% of ILC was found with LCIS. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24857380

    Anatomically, you have to pass the basement membrane to get to the interior of the body, where mets occur. So, anatomically, and by definition, LCIS does not directly cross the basement membrane and travel through the blood or lymph nodes to distant places in the body. If those cells that looked like LCIS did, then it would be classified as invasive (or at least microinvasive) breast cancer.

    It is certainly possible for invasive cancer (such as IDC or ILC) to cross the basement membrane and travel to distant places in the body. It is certainly possible to be diagnosed with LCIS and have synchronous (at the same time) undiagnosed invasive cancer with or without metastases.

    As far as I know, we have little idea how LCIS works. LCIS can be found with ILC, DCIS, and/or ILC. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22776144. In this study, LCIS was an additional risk factor for breast cancer recurrence in the same breast in people who had concominant invasive breast cancer. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18815880 (This last finding is not surprising to me, since the only sure way of identifying LCIS is by looking at it under the microscope, which obviously requires removal of breast tissue.) Notably, in this study, recurrence in the same breast did NOT significantly affect survival rate.

    Since, as far as I know, we don't know how LCIS works, its certainly possible that LCIS could INDIRECTLY affect the way invasive breast cancer proceeds. As far as I know, we don't have any significant information that LCIS found at the same time as invasive breast cancer decreases the survival rate or increases the metastasis rate.

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  • Bcky
    Bcky Member Posts: 167
    edited March 2015

    Thanks

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited March 2015

    I found this article interesting about theories about metastatic breast cancer. http://www.discoverymedicine.com/Elizabeth-A-Comen/2012/08/22/tracking-the-seed-and-tending-the-soil-evolving-concepts-in-metastatic-breast-cancer/

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