Attention e-learning users:
Please be advised that Mammography Education Inc will no longer be able to provide Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits after March 31st.
Important: The lectures you purchased will NEVER expire. They will continue to be available for viewing as before. This message only pertains to the CME credits.
If you have completed an e-learning course with us or purchased lectures, and need the CME credits for your professional development, please be sure to download your certificate(s) before this date.
Thank you for your understanding and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Sincerely,
László Tabár, M.D. FACR (Hon)
Rarely seen, extensive, but a frequently missed and often fatal cancer
This is the first part of two lectures dealing with a particularly challenging breast malignancy, a diffusely infiltrating breast cancer with very special clinical and imaging features. It does not originate in the TDLUs or in the major lactiferous ducts, its origin is in the mesenchymal stem cells. The clinical and imaging presentations are dominated by the extreme proliferation of mesenchymal fibrous tissue.
This explains why there is no detectable early phase of this disease, since the supporting fibrous structure of the breast is involved from the beginning. Although it is very extensive, it is frequently missed on the mammograms because it so closely resembles the normal breast structure. As the fibrous structure thickens, the malignancy gradually becomes detectable on the mammogram, at which phase it is usually large and palpable as a thickening. Unlike other breast cancers, it shrinks the entire breast instead of causing focal skin retraction. This malignancy can be difficult to detect even in fatty replaced breasts. It is also resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The immunohistochemical biomarkers are deceptive since they are generally estrogen and progesterone positive, HER2 negative cases with 1-5% proliferation index, but the fatality rate is 30-40%.
