CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC STUDIES OF INVASIVE LOBULAR CARCINOMAS COMPARED WITH OTHER INVASIVE CARCINOMAS OF THE BREAST

Abstract

Thirty female patients with invasive lobular carcinoma and 419 with other invasive carcinoma of the breast who were detected at the breast clinic of Nagano Cancer Center on an ambulant basis during the past 10 years and 3 months were retrospectively compared for clinicopathological and diangnostic factors. The former group was a little younger in average age than the latter group. Judged from the tumor size, clinical stage and other factors, more advanced cases were involved in the former group than in the latter group. But the cases with lymph node metastasis were fewer in the former group than in the latter group. Invasive lobular carcinomas presented difficulty in diagnossis by palpation compared to other invasive carcinomas. Ultrasonography was more useful than mammography to diagnose invasive lobular carcinoma as malignancy. Diagnostic accuracy rate of invasive lobular carcinomas (75.0%) was statistically lower than that of other invasive carcinomas (94.2%) by aspiration biopsy cytology. But this rate was statistically higher than the rates of other diagnostic methods. It was suggested that the feelings at needle insertion into invasive lobular carcinoma tissues were useful for malignant diagnosis. From the above results, we would emphasize that we should keep a possible occurence invasive lobular carcinoma in mind and refer the feelings at needle insertion into tumorous tissues for the diagnosis of the mammary disorders.