It's not easy to understand the meaning of several of the words your doctor uses to speak about breast cancer. Below are a few of the key words you could possibly notice:
Carcinoma: It is a term used to explain a cancer that starts in the lining layer of organs like the breast. Almost all breast cancers are carcinomas (sometimes ductal carcinomas or lobular carcinomas).
Adenocarcinoma: An adenocarcinoma is a kind of cancer that begins in gland tissue (tissue that produces and secretes a substance). The ducts and lobules of the breast are gland tissues simply because they produce breast milk, therefore cancers beginning in these locations are usually called adenocarcinomas.
Carcinoma in situ: This term is used for an early stage of cancer, when it's still limited to the layer of cells exactly where it started. In breast cancer, in situ means that the cells of cancer are just in the ducts (ductal carcinoma in situ) or lobules (lobular carcinoma in situ). They haven't yet spread into further tissues in the breast or to some other organs in the body. Due to this, some kinds of carcinoma in situ are occasionally named non-invasive or pre-invasive breast cancers.
Invasive (infiltrating) carcinoma: An invasive cancer is one that has already grown beyond the layer of cells exactly where it began (not like carcinoma in situ). Almost all breast cancers are invasive carcinomas - either invasive ductal carcinoma or invasive lobular carcinoma.
Sarcoma: Sarcomas are cancers that begin from connective tissues like muscle tissue, fat tissue or blood vessels. Sarcomas of the breast are rare and are not discussed further in this document.
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