What is the difference between invasive and noninvasive breast cancer

Medically Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD on June 20, 2020

When you’re diagnosed with cancer, it can feel like you need to learn a whole new language. Doctors use many terms to describe your particular type of cancer. Among those terms are “invasive” and “metastatic.”

When it comes to breast cancer, invasive and metastatic both refer to cancer that has spread from the site in the breast where it first started. But the words have slightly different meanings, and whether your cancer is dubbed invasive or metastatic has implications for how it might be treated.

What Is Invasive Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer usually begins inside the milk ducts or lobules of the breast tissue. Invasive breast cancer has spread from these areas to nearby breast tissue. After invading other healthy parts of the breast, an invasive cancer can travel to nearby lymph nodes.

The two most common types of invasive breast cancer are:

  • Invasive ductal carcinoma, which begins in a milk duct and spreads into nearby breast tissue
  • Invasive lobular carcinoma, which starts in the lobules of the breast before spreading

Treatment options for invasive breast cancer depend on how advanced your cancer is, as well as your overall health and preferences.

What Is Metastatic Breast Cancer?

Metastatic breast cancer, which includes stage IV breast cancer, is cancer that has spread (metastasized) from the breast to another part of the body. Breast cancers most often metastasize to the liver, brain, bones, or lungs. It happens when breast cancer cells break off a breast tumor and move through the body in the bloodstream or lymph system.

Even though it’s found in a different organ, metastatic breast cancers are still called breast cancers -- and not bone cancers or lung cancers, for instance -- because they started out as breast cells.

Key Differences Between Invasive and Metastatic Breast Cancer

Metastatic breast cancer isn’t a specific type of breast cancer, but is the most advanced stage of breast cancer. Both invasive and metastatic breast cancer have spread beyond the exact point where they started. Invasive breast cancers may have spread within the breast only, or to nearby lymph nodes or tissues, or may have spread to distant body parts. All metastatic breast cancers have spread outside of the breast and nearby lymph nodes to distant body parts. If a cancer is only invasive within the breast, it’s usually easier for doctors to treat than metastatic disease.

Can Breast Cancer Be Both Invasive and Metastatic?

Yes. But that’s not always the case.

Most metastatic breast cancers were invasive breast tumors before traveling to another body part. Many doctors even consider metastatic breast cancer a type of invasive breast cancer that has spread further. This means that everyone who has metastatic disease has invasive breast cancer. Sometimes, a person already has metastatic breast cancer when they are diagnosed, if it wasn’t found before it spread.

But all invasive breast cancers aren’t metastatic. Earlier stage breast cancers may have invaded other parts of the breast or nearby lymph nodes but haven’t spread to further parts of the body.

Non-invasive cancer cells are found in the lobules or ducts. They have not moved to the lymph nodes or spread beyond the breast tissue.

Ductal Carcinoma in Situ

In Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS), your tumor is in the milk ducts. Symptoms can include a lump in your breast, changes in your breast size or color, and breast skin dimpling or puckering. About 83 percent of in situ breast cancer is DCIS.

All women with DCIS are referred for treatment. Treatment includes surgery, radiation, and/or endocrine (hormonal) therapy. About 50 percent, or one-half, of all cases will become an invasive breast cancer (IBC) if not treated.

Breast Cancer Ductal Carcinoma

Paget's Disease of the Breast

Paget's disease is a rare form of in situ breast cancer that involves the skin of your nipple and areola (dark skin around your nipple).

Symptoms include:

  • Itching, tingling, redness, or change in shape of your nipple and/or areola
  • Flaking, crusty, or thickened skin on or around your nipple
  • Discharge (sometimes yellow or bloody) from your nipple

Paget's disease represents about 3 percent of breast cancer and may be seen in women and men.

“Inverted Nipple” by Karin4758, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.01“Inverted Nipple” by Karin4758, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.01

Keeping You Informed

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is not cancer. It is a risk factor (or marker) for invasive breast cancer. About 13 percent of in situ breast disease is LCIS.7

The risk of LCIS turning into invasive breast cancer is about 1 percent per year. It can occur in either breast.8

Treatment may include monitoring, surgery, or hormone therapy. Hormone drugs like tamoxifen (Nolvadex®), raloxifene (Evista®), or exemestane (Aromasin®) are used to prevent breast cancer.

What does it mean if breast cancer is invasive?

Cancer that has spread from where it began in the breast to surrounding normal tissue. The most common type of invasive breast cancer is invasive ductal carcinoma, which begins in the lining of the milk ducts (thin tubes that carry milk from the lobules of the breast to the nipple).

What stage is invasive breast cancer?

There are 5 major stages of breast cancer: stage 0 (zero), which is non-invasive ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and stages I through IV (1 through 4), which are used for invasive breast cancer. The stage provides a common way of describing the cancer, so doctors can work together to plan the best treatments.

What is the difference between invasive cancer and non

What is noninvasive cancer? Noninvasive cancer does not spread outside of the tissue in which it initially formed. Some doctors may refer to it as carcinoma in situ or precancer. Invasive cancer, on the other hand, is one that has spread beyond the originally affected tissue.

What is the most invasive type of breast cancer?

Invasive ductal carcinoma (also called infiltrating ductal carcinoma) begins in the milk ducts and is the most common invasive breast cancer.