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Breastcancerdevelopment

Theearliestbreastcancersarecalled"insitu"cancers.Insitumeansthetumorhas
stayedinsidetheplacewhereitfirstformedandhasnotspreadtonearbytissues.
Themostcommonformofinsitucanceriscalled"ductalcarcinomainsitu,"or
DCIS.DCISformsinsidetheductsofthebreast,whicharetubesthatcarrymilkto
thenipplewhenawomanisbreastfeeding.
Lobularcarcinomainsitu,orLCIShasasimilarnamebutisnotconsideredatrue
cancer.Instead,itisconsideredariskfactorfordevelopingcancerinthefuture.
LCISreferstoabnormalcellsinthelobulesofthebreast,whichiswheremilkis

made.
Whenbreastcancersspreadbeyondtheductsorlobulesofthebreastintothe
nearbytissue,theyarecalled"locallyinvasivecancers."
Whentumorsspreadtoareasoutsidethebreastthroughthebloodandlymph
vessels,theyarecalled"metastaticcancers."
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