What are the clinical characteristics of occult breast cancer

Occult breast cancer is a relatively rare type of breast cancer. It was first reported in 1907. Foreign literature shows that its incidence rate accounts for 0.3%~1% of breast cancer in the same period, while domestic reports show that it accounts for 0.2%~0.5% of all breast cancer cases.

Generally, this type of breast cancer cannot be felt in the breast. Clinically, the first manifestation is often axillary lymph node metastasis or other distant metastasis, so it is called occult breast cancer. Occult breast cancer can have the following clinical manifestations:

1. Swollen axillary and/or supraclavicular lymph nodes

Almost all patients with occult breast cancer come to the hospital for treatment with enlarged axillary lymph nodes or supraclavicular lymph nodes as the first symptom. Among them, patients with a combination of symptoms such as hard lymph nodes, no tenderness, and poor mobility are more common.

2. No positive signs in the breast examination on the affected side

Generally, no lumps can be felt in the breasts of patients with this type of breast cancer. However, this does not mean that there is no cancer in the breast. Rather, the tumor is tiny and the mammary glands are tough, so the cancer is easily hidden deep in the glands. There are no positive signs in the breast examination on the affected side, and the clinical lesions often present as flaky thickening, which is not easy to be touched, resulting in no positive signs in the breast examination on the affected side.

3. Distant metastasis to other parts outside the breast

There are also some patients with occult breast cancer who first discover distant metastatic cancer, and only after a pathological biopsy in the hospital do they find out that the culprit is breast cancer.