Ms. Barker’s breast mass is described as firm, non-tender, non-mobile. On this basis, several benign conditions that have possibly caused it may be considered. Still, traumatic fat necrosis, fibroadenoma and fibrocystic breast disease seem to be among the most evident ones. As the patient did not mention any traumas and experiences of pain, the first diagnosis is less likely than the rest two. Fibroadenomas are relatively common, and they can be easily moved without causing any pain. However, it is usually referred to when speaking about the women between 20 and 30 years old. Thus, fibrocystic breast disease should be considered closer. It may occur in women of 50s due to the changes in response to ovaries’ hormones. This benign condition increases the risks of cancer and makes it more difficult to identify (unlike any of the other), which means that the tests should be taken to make sure what the diagnosis is correct.
When suffering from fibrocystic breast disease, women experience the formation of fibrous tissue, which differs from the common one, and cysts. The cysts can be found in one or two breasts and may cause pain or be painless depending on their size and location. They are also easily moved, as a rule, so no evident discomfort may occur. The cysts are filled with fluid and occur to be a kind of sacs that are full of it.
As it turned out, Ms. Barker has not a cystic solid lesion. On this basis, her condition should be considered again. It seems that the woman has a breast cancer. Taking into consideration, the most common types of it, it may be concluded that she has an invasive ductal carcinoma or ductal carcinoma in situ. Both types of cancer are connected with the problems in the milk duct. Ductal carcinoma in situ is found in a particular place (left breast, in this case), but it might turn into infiltrative ductal carcinoma and spread into the other parts of the tissue and body. Thus, it is critical to detect cancer before the situation worsens.
Even though these two types of cancer are alike and connected, there are particular differences between them. Ductal carcinoma in citu does not spread through the organism and affect other organs and tissues. It is non-invasive and framed by the breast milk duct. Moreover, it is highly treatable when found in time. Invasive ductal carcinoma does not stay in the place where it occurred and invades other tissues, which makes it much harder to deal with. As a result, the way of treatment also differs, and the physician is to consider various options to find out how to stop further expansion and get rid of solid lesions so that a patient feels better (McCance, Huether, Brashers, & Rote, 2014).
As Ms. Barker’s breast cancer has metastasized to her lungs, she suffers from invasive carcinoma of the breast. Her lung cancer occurs to be a metastatic one, which alters from the primary lung cancer. The main difference is in the cancer cells. In Ms. Barker’s situation, the breast cancer cells can be found in the lungs but not the lung cancer cells. As a consequence, they respond to different kinds of treatment, which means that cancer that is located in the lungs should be treated as those found in the breast instead of developing two ways of treatment (Grossman, 2014).
References
Grossman, S. (2014). Porth’s Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States (9th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
McCance, K., Huether, S., Brashers, V., & Rote, N. (2014). Altered cellular and tissue biology. In K. McVance, T. Grey, & G. Rodway (Eds.), Pathophysiology: The biological basis for disease in adults and children (pp. 477–494). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier-Mosby.