{"id":5368,"date":"2017-05-05T11:43:20","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T03:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/?page_id=5368"},"modified":"2023-04-03T14:06:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-03T06:06:58","slug":"i-overview-and-approach","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/i-overview-and-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"I. Overview and Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>Let&#8217;s learn about the <strong>histologic components<\/strong> of the breast; its <strong>functions,<\/strong> and some important <strong>clinical considerations.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--label-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\">1. What is the breast?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--icon-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\"><i>Expand<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul> \t\n<li>Modified skin appendage (sweat gland) &#8211;\n<ul> \t\n<li>Terminal duct lobular unit &#8211; small ducts and lobules lined by specialised epithelium, bilayered\n<ul> \t\n<li>Myoepithelial &#8211; outer, against basement membrane<\/li>\n\n<li>Epithelial &#8211; inner \u00a0&#8211; facing lumen &#8211; many epithelial proliferations and neoplasms arise from this<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n<li>Specialised intralobular stroma\n<ul> \t\n<li>Can become neoplastic -> \u00a0induce proliferation of epithelial cells too -> develop \u00a0fibroepithelial neoplasms (eg. fibroadenoma, phyllodes tumour)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n<li>These two components are hormonally responsive and may undergo morphologcal changes during various parts of the menstrual cycle, as well as during lactation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Large ducts and lactiferous ducts &#8211; larger ducts also lined by bilayered epithelium, the latter open into the nipple. Benign, in-situ and malignant neoplasms can also arise from these (may cause bloody nipple discharge)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--label-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\">2. What are the functions of the breast?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--icon-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\"><i>Expand<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Produce milk and nourishment for offspring<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide immunological source of protection for offspring<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--label-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\">3. Important Clinical Considerations<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--icon-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\"><i>Expand<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>As breast cancer is the commonest malignancy in women, one of the key questions when approaching a female patient with a breast complaint is: <strong>Is this malignant?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Even benign lesions (eg. benign epithelial proliferations) may carry an increased <strong>risk of malignancy<\/strong>, so these need to be followed-up<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Family history and past history are very important when evaluating a patient for possible breast malignancy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>triple test <\/strong>&#8211; a combination of clinical evaluation (History and physical examination); diagnostic imaging and tissue biopsy, is the mainstay of the diagnostic approach to breast cancer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\t<p>In the next section you will learn about some of the main breast diseases, and thereafter the main clinical manifestations of breast disease. <\/p>\n<p>Look at these side by side to work out how individual diseases may be picked up clinically.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/i-overview-and-approach\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI. Overview and Approach\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/ii-main-diseases-of-the-breast\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tII. Main Diseases of the Breast\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/breast-iii-clinicopathologic-correlation\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIII. Clinicopathologic Correlation\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/breast-talking-pots-and-slides\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIV. Breast Pathology: Talking Pots and Slides\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/breast-quiz\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tV. Breast: Quizzes\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/breast-pathology-one-page-summary-study-notes\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBreast Pathology: Study Notes and One Page Summary\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBreast Pathology Chapter Home\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPathology Demystified\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<p>See how, in <strong>real life,<\/strong> the Pathologist would handle a breast case, from the patient to the final pathology report.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/pathology-in-action-real-life-cases\/pathology-in-action-a-breast-lump\/\" target=\"_blank\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Real Life Case: Breast\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s learn about the histologic components of the breast; its functions, and some important clinical considerations.\u00a0 1. What is the breast? Expand Modified skin appendage (sweat gland) &#8211; Terminal duct lobular unit &#8211; small ducts and lobules lined by specialised epithelium, bilayered Myoepithelial &#8211; outer, against basement membrane Epithelial &#8211; inner \u00a0&#8211; facing lumen &#8211; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5358,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NUS Pathweb<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/pathweb\/pathology-demystified\/breast-pathology\/i-overview-and-approach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let&#8217;s learn about the histologic components of the breast; its functions, and some important clinical considerations.\u00a0 1. 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