Imaging of invasive lobular cancer

Abstract

Invasive lobular carcinoma, because of its many atypical presentation, is a diagnostic challenge both for clinical and mammographic assesment. The risks of errors are due to the fact that the lesion is often poorly limited and with a tendency to multifocality and multicentricity. Occult mammography in dense breasts is common (5 to 50% according to the literature). In fact, ultrasonography is a complementary tool, especially useful in dense breasts, and makes it possible to find the subjacent lesion in more than 80% of the cases. In the same way, the MRI is part of modern pre-therapeutic assessment: it allows a better estimate of the real size of the lesion, allowing detection of multifocal lesions. (copyright) Masson, Paris, 2005.