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Table of Contents
Clinical features | Case reports | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | Cytology description | Electron microscopy description | Differential diagnosisCite this page: Lobular carcinoma - alveolar variant. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/breastmalignantlobularalveolar.html. Accessed July 14th, 2017.
Clinical features
- 4 - 15% of infiltrating lobular carcinoma cases (Br J Cancer 1989;60:605, Breast Cancer Res Treat 2012;133:713)
- Often postmenopausal women (Am J Clin Pathol 1986;85:1)
- May have poorer prognosis than classic lobular carcinoma (Cancer 2008;113:1511)
Case reports
- 74 year old woman with synchronous classic and alveolar lobular carcinomas (Am J Surg Pathol 2011;35:1743)
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Sharply outlined (rounded) groups or nests of 20 or more cells, resembling alveoli, separated by delicate fibrovascular tissue
- May have osteoclast giant cells (Pathologica 1993;85:525)
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on PathOut server:
Tumor cells in discrete
rounded aggregates separated
by fibrous stroma (AFIP)
Images hosted on other servers:
Uniform alveolar growth pattern
E-cadherin negative
Cytology description
- Rosette like pattern (Acta Cytol 2000;44:169)
Electron microscopy description
- Tumor cells are similar to classic lobular tumors, but nests of cells are surrounded by elongated fibroblasts or myofibroblasts (Ultrastruct Pathol 1986;10:311)
Differential diagnosis
- Lobular carcinoma in situ: groups of cells have distinct myoepithelial layer and basement membrane
- Lymphoma: negative for epithelial markers, positive for lymphocytic markers
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