Abstract
Mammographic screening of asymptomatic women leads to the detection of an unprecedented number of in situ and nonpalpable 1–9 mm and 10–14 mm invasive breast cancers. Detecting breast cancer at an earlier phase in its development and at a smaller tumor size is, however, no guarantee that the disease will be localized to a small, confined volume in every case. In fact, multifocal and/or diffuse breast cancers comprise the majority of breast cancers in every size range (Holland et al. 1985; Tot 2007). These studies have also shown that the frequency of unifocal and multifocal breast cancers is unaffected by tumor size at detection (Table 7.1).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Andea AA, Wallis T, Newman LA, Bouwman D, Dey J, Wisscher DW (2002) Pathologic analysis of tumor size and lymph node status in multifocal/multicentric breast carcinoma. Cancer 94:1383–1390
Andea AA, Bouwman D, Wallis T, Wissher DW (2004) Correlation of tumor volume and surface area with lymph node status in patients with multifocal/multicentric breast carcinoma. Cancer 100:20–27
Cady B, Chung M (2005) Mammographic screening: no longer controversial. Editorial. Am J Clin Oncol 28:1–4
Chua B, Ung O, Taylor R, Boyages J (2001) Frequency and predictors of axillary lymph node metastases in invasive breast cancer. ANZ J Surg 71:723–728
Coombs NJ, Boyages J (2005) Multifocal and multicentric breast cancer: does each focus matter? J Clin Oncol 23:7497–7502
Egan RI (1982) Multicentric breast carcinomas: clinical-radiographic-pathologic whole organ studies and 10-year survival. Cancer 49:1123–1130
Holland R, Veling SHJ, Mravunac M, Hendriks JHCL (1985) Histologic multifocality of Tis, T1-2 breast carcinomas. Implications for clinical trials of breast conserving surgery. Cancer 56:979–990
Tabar L, Tot T, Dean PB (2005) Breast cancer: the art and science of early detection with mammography. Thieme, Stuttgart/New York
Tabar L, Tot T, Dean PB (2007) Breast cancer. Early detection with mammography. Carting type calcifications: sign of a subtype with deceptive features. Thieme, Stuttgart/New York
Tot T (2007) Clinical relevance of the distribution of the lesions in 500 consecutive breast cancer cases documented in large-format histologic sections. Cancer 110:2551–2560
Tot T, Tabar L (2005) Mammographic-pathologic correlation of ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast using two- and three-dimensional large histologic sections. Semin Breast Dis 8:144–151
Tot T (2009) The metastatic capacity of multifocal breast carcinomas: extensive tumors versus tumors of limited extent. Hum Pathol 40:199–205
Woo CS, Silberman H, Nakamura SK, Ye W, Sposto R, Colburn W, Waisman JR, Silverstein MJ (2002) Lymph node status combined with lymphovascular invasion creates a more powerful tool for predicting outcome in patients with invasive breast cancer. Am J Surg 184:337–340
Yen MF, Tabar L, Vitak B, Smith RA, Chen HH, Duffy SW (2003) Quantifying the potential problem of overdiagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ in breast cancer screening. Eur J Cancer 39:1746–1754
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer London
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tabár, L.K., Dean, P.B., Tot, T., Lindhe, N., Ingvarsson, M., Yen, A.MF. (2010). The Implications of the Imaging Manifestations of Multifocal and Diffuse Breast Cancers. In: Tot, T. (eds) Breast Cancer. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-314-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-314-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-84996-313-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-84996-314-5
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)