Question from rbsimmons: On Monday, my 26 year old daughter was diagnosed w/lipid-rich breast carcinoma. Reportedly only 50 cases have been identified. It doesn't seem to be much information out there about this type of breast cancer. Please help! Please post any information you are willing to share. Our counsultation is Monday.
Response from Pedram Argani, M.D., The Johns Hopkins Hospital:Lipid rich invasive breast carcinoma is a type of invasive breast carcinoma in which the carcinoma cells have abundant fat (lipid) in their cytoplasm. Of the limited number of cases reported so far, many have presented with axillary lymph node metastases, so these tumors are thought to be aggressive.
Nonetheless, there is no data I know of that indicates that these tumors have a worse prognosis when we account for the traditional breast cancer prognostic factors: specifically, tumor stage, grade, hormone receptor and Her-2/neu status.
