One of the reasons I started this site was to make sure that patients had appropriate information about the pathology behind their breast biopsy diagnosis. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there which has recently come to my attention, thanks to friends and colleagues who I’ve spoken with.

I have found that there are some sites out there that have Q/A forums that give patients the wrong information, many of which are quite prestigious. For example, I was forwarded a Q/A site where the person on that site responded to a patient’s question about “invasive mammary carcinoma” and actually said that’s a cancer that starts at the junction of the ducts and lobules of the breast. This is just plain wrong! There is no “special” cancer that does this. Invasive mammary carcinoma means an invasive carcinoma of the breast–that’s what mammary means–breast. It is usually called invasive ductal carcinoma, or invasive carcinoma, NST (no specific type) or invasive carcinoma, NOS (not otherwise specified) to separate it from the “special types” of invasive carcinoma of the breast. It is a generic term to refer to the most common type of invasive carcinoma of the breast. It turns out that this patient’s question was not answered by a pathologist, not even by a physician!

Another example is a patient asked about what lymphovascular invasion meant. Any pathologist will tell you that means the cancer was found within the blood vessels or lymphatic channels in the breast meaning it could possibly spread to your nodes or elsewhere in your body (metastasize). We found a site that said it means blood vessels found running through your tumor. Wrong again! There are blood vessels and lymphatic channels in every breast, with or without cancer. That means nothing and is an incorrect response to the question. After we checked it was not a pathologist, again not even a physician, answering the question.

The bottom line is this: please double, triple, even quadruple check everything about your diagnosis, even something as simple as asking a question of a supposed “expert” on the Internet. You deserve the best and most accurate information regarding your diagnosis as this will dictate all future treatment. Please feel free to question us, our credentials, and our references when we respond to questions.

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