Infiltrating/Invasive Lobular Cancer (ILC)

Q. Tell me more about the “sneaky” part. When I told one of my friends I have ILC, she said her mom had it and chose to have a double mastectomy, because they told her it’s more difficult to diagnose, and there’s more of a chance of ILC showing up in her other breast than with other kinds of breast cancer. Is that true?

A. It’s true ILC is harder to diagnose than IDC; although with diagnostic tools improving all the time, the challenge is, thankfully, diminishing. And it’s also true ILC is more likely to occur in both breasts than IDC. But the difference isn’t huge: there’s a 15% chance IDC will happen in both breasts, while with ILC it’s 20%. Doctors did, in fact, in the past sometimes recommend a prophylactic (preventive) mastectomy of the unaffected breast for women with ILC; but this isn’t a common recommendation anymore, particularly since treatment has become so much more effective.

Your best bet? Be vigilant. Have your regular mammogram and in between times, if your breast feels somehow different–remember, you’ll most likely feel thickening, rather than a discrete lump–call your doctor.