Diagnosing Rare Forms of Cancer: Metaplastic Carcinoma

By Dr. Kathleen Ruddy

Being diagnosed with breast cancer can be very scary. Since there are many types of breast cancer, a breast cancer diagnosis can mean many different things for different individuals. Being diagnosed with metaplastic carcinoma may sound confusing because these are medical terms that not many people generally understand. It is a form of invasive ductal cancer and one of the rarest and trickiest forms of breast cancer to treat. Unfortunately, little is known about how metaplastic carcinoma forms or its long-term effect on the body, so a diagnosis can be difficult. Understanding more about metaplastic carcinoma and the stages of breast cancer can help you deal with a diagnosis of this rare form of cancer.

What is Metaplastic Carcinoma?

Metaplastic breast cancer is when the cancer forms in the milk ducts of the breasts before moving to other breast tissue. Tumors associated with metaplastic carcinoma contain cancerous cells normally not found inside the breast. These can include skin cells or bone cells. The term metaplastic alludes to the manner in which the cancerous cells have changed into those of another part of the body. Metaplastic carcinoma is quite rare and generally is found in less than one percent of all diagnosed breast cancer patients. However, it is very aggressive and thus taken quite seriously in the medical community.

Diagnosing Metaplastic Carcinoma

Metaplastic carcinoma is deceivingly hard to diagnose. Mammograms and sonograms may show the metaplastic carcinoma as benign masses and they may be overlooked. In order to determine whether a mass is benign or malignant, a doctor may use other slightly more invasive techniques. This can include biopsies of the breast tissue and tumor. Other options also include ultrasounds, MRI’s, or CAT scans.

DID YOU KNOW?

Don’t confuse the term metaplastic with metastatic. Metaplastic comes from the Greek phrase “to change form,” and describes the way that cells appear to have changed into other cells in other organs such as breast cells into skins cells. Metastatic refers to the spread of cancer from the tumor site to other organs of the body.

Metaplastic Carcinoma Prognosis

While rare, metaplastic carcinoma is quite deadly. It is a very aggressive form of breast cancer and tends to be present in advanced stages. Many breast cancer tumors are diagnosed as stage one or stage two, making treatments simple and successful. When suffering from metaplastic carcinoma, many women don’t experience any symptoms at all. This means that by the time the tumors are detected, it is often in more advanced stage of cancer. The cancer also has a higher rate of recurrence. This makes a diagnosis of metaplastic carcinoma a very serious one, with a prognosis that is much more difficult to predict than less aggressive forms of cancer.
Treating Metaplastic Carcinoma

Since this type of cancer is so rare, there is no common treatment. However, doctors will usually remove the visible tumor with a lumpectomy or mastectomy and follow it with chemotherapy and radiation. Testing for hormone receptivity can also help, since hormone treatment has been shown to slow the growth of the cancerous cells. Metaplastic breast cancer tumors are often larger than normal, especially since they are commonly diagnosed during a later state of cancer. As a result, a mastectomy and aggressive chemotherapy are the most common and effective treatments.

With a cancer this rare, all of the information available is somewhat vague. More medical research is needed, and there have not yet been any advancements that can help treat metaplastic carcinoma. However, a diagnosis of this type of rare cancer does not mean a death sentence. In the rare cases though, it does mean that a woman diagnosed with this type of cancer must be vigilant and treat the cancer aggressively. Knowing as much as you can about the cancer and the available treatments are the most powerful tools in arming yourself for the fight against this rare disease.

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