Invasive lobular carcinoma: clinicopathological features and subtypes
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Updated: Oct 31, 2025
Sectioning Mammary Gland Whole Mounts for Lesion Identification
Published on: July 24, 2017
Sabine Danzinger1, Nora Hielscher1, Miriam Izsó1
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Objective:
To analyze the characteristics of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) compared with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and to investigate the impact of histology on axillary lymph node (ALN) involvement in luminal A subtype tumors.
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed patients diagnosed with ILC or IDC from 2012 to 2016 who underwent surgery. Patients constituted 493 primary early breast cancer cases (82 ILC; 411 IDC).
Results:
Compared with IDC, ILC tumors were significantly more likely to be grade 2, estrogen receptor- (ER) positive (+), have a lower proliferation rate (Ki67 <14%), and a higher pathological T stage (pT2-4). The luminal A subtype was significantly more common in ILC compared with IDC. In a multivariate regression model, grade 2, ER+, progesterone receptor-positive, pT2, and pT3 were significantly associated with ILC. Additionally, with the luminal A subtype, ALN involvement (pathological node stage (pN)1-3) was significantly more frequent with ILC versus IDC.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that grade 2, positive hormone receptor status, and higher pathological T stage are associated with ILC. With the luminal A subtype, ALN involvement was more frequent with ILC versus IDC.
