Espa?ol
PDFs by language
Our 24/7 cancer helpline provides information and answers for people dealing with cancer. We can connect you with trained cancer information specialists who will answer questions about a cancer diagnosis and provide guidance and a compassionate ear.
Chat live online
Select the Live Chat button at the bottom of the page
Call us at 1-800-227-2345
Available any time of day or night
Our highly trained specialists are available 24/7 via phone and on weekdays can assist through online chat. We connect patients, caregivers, and family members with essential services and resources at every step of their cancer journey. Ask us how you can get involved and support the fight against cancer. Some of the topics we can assist with include:
For medical questions, we encourage you to review our information with your doctor.
Breast cancers that have spread into surrounding breast tissue are known as invasive breast cancers. Most breast cancers are invasive, but there are different types of invasive breast cancer. The two most common types are invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC).
Inflammatory breast cancer and triple negative breast cancer are also types of invasive breast cancer.
This is the most common type of breast cancer. About 8 in 10 invasive breast cancers are invasive (or infiltrating) ductal carcinomas (IDC).
IDC starts in the cells that line a milk duct in the breast. From there, the cancer breaks through the wall of the duct, and grows into the nearby breast tissues. At this point, it may be able to spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body through the lymph system and bloodstream.
About 1 in 10 invasive breast cancers is an invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC).
ILC starts in the breast glands that make milk (lobules). Like IDC, it can spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body. Invasive lobular carcinoma may be harder to detect on physical exam and imaging, like mammograms, than invasive ductal carcinoma. And compared to other kinds of invasive carcinoma, it is more likely to affect both breasts. About 1 in 5 women with ILC might have cancer in both breasts at the time they are diagnosed.
There are some special types of breast cancer that are sub-types of invasive carcinoma. They are less common than the breast cancers named above and each typically make up fewer than 5% of all breast cancers. These are often named after features of the cancer cells, like the ways the cells are arranged.
Some of these may have a better prognosis than the more common IDC. These include:
Some sub-types have the same or maybe worse prognoses than IDC. These include:
In general, all of these sub-types are still treated like IDC.
Treatment of invasive breast cancer depends on how advanced the cancer is (the stage of the cancer) and other factors. Most women will have some type of surgery to remove the tumor. Depending on the type of breast cancer and how advanced it is, you might need other types of treatment as well, either before or after surgery, or sometimes both.
See Treating Breast Cancer for details on different types of treatment, as well as common treatment approaches based on the stage or other factors.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Arpino G, Infiltrating lobular carcinoma of the breast:tumor board characteristics and clinical outcome. Breast Cancer Research. 2004; 6: 149.
Dillon DA, Guidi AJ, Schnitt SJ. Ch. 25: Pathology of invasive breast cancer. In: Harris JR, Lippman ME, Morrow M, Osborne CK, eds. Diseases of the Breast. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott-Williams & Wilkins; 2014.
Henry NL, Shah PD, Haider I, Freer PE, Jagsi R, Sabel MS. Chapter 88: Cancer of the Breast. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Doroshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier; 2020.
Huober J, Gelber S, Goldhirsch A, et al. Prognosis of medullary breast cancer: analysis of 13 International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) trials. Ann Oncol. 2012;23(11):2843–2851.
Jagsi R, King TA, Lehman C, Morrow M, Harris JR, Burstein HJ. Chapter 79: Malignant Tumors of the Breast. In: DeVita VT, Lawrence TS, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg SA, eds. DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg’s Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2019.
Last Revised: November 19, 2021
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.
Sign up to stay up-to-date with news, valuable information, and ways to get involved with the American Cancer Society.
If this was helpful, donate to help fund patient support services, research, and cancer content updates.