Breast Oncology Glossary

The period from treatment completion until cancer recurrence, development of a new primary cancer, or death from any cau...

Non-invasive breast cancer confined to the milk ducts without spread to surrounding breast tissue.

A minimally invasive procedure that collects cells from breast ducts for cytological analysis to assess cancer risk.

A standardized scale from 0-4 that measures a patient's functional capacity and ability to perform daily activities, use...

Pattern of contrast agent uptake and washout in breast MRI used to characterize lesion behavior over time.

Breast cancer cells lacking estrogen receptor expression, affecting hormonal therapy eligibility.

Breast cancer cells that have estrogen receptors and typically respond to hormone-blocking treatments.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization, a laboratory technique used to detect HER2 gene amplification in breast cancer tissu...

Overexpression of the HER2 protein due to gene amplification, determining eligibility for targeted HER2 therapies in bre...

Breast cancer cells that do not overexpress the HER2 protein, affecting treatment decisions.

Describes breast cancer cells that overexpress human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 protein.

Abbreviation for invasive lobular carcinoma, the second most common type of breast cancer.

A laboratory technique using antibodies to detect specific proteins in tissue samples, essential for breast cancer subty...

Aggressive form of breast cancer characterized by skin changes resembling inflammation.

The natural crease beneath the breast where it meets the chest wall, important for surgical planning and reconstruction...

Most common type of breast cancer that begins in milk ducts and spreads to surrounding breast tissue.

The second most common type of invasive breast cancer, accounting for 10-15% of cases and often more difficult to detect...

General pathological term for breast cancers that have invaded beyond the basement membrane into surrounding breast tiss...

A protein marker that indicates how quickly cancer cells are dividing, expressed as a percentage of positive-staining ce...

A proliferative breast lesion characterized by abnormal cell growth within breast lobules, considered a high-risk marker...

Cancer recurrence in the breast, chest wall, or regional lymph nodes after initial treatment.

A molecular subtype of breast cancer characterized by hormone receptor positivity, HER2 negativity, and low proliferatio...

A molecular subtype of breast cancer characterized by hormone receptor positivity with higher proliferation rates.

Surgical procedure to remove a breast tumor while preserving most of the breast tissue.