A young female consults you because of a lump she has noticed in her left breast during self-examination. Her maternal grandmother had died of breast cancer.
Physical examination of the breasts reveals a hard nodule in the upper outer quadrant of the right breast. The nipple and areolae appear normal with no discharge. Although a mammogram is negative, you decide to refer her to a surgeon.
The subsequent histopathological report reveals an extensive ductal carcinoma in situ.
- What are the ductuli lactiferi?
- How is the mammary gland classified?
- How are the mammary glands subdivided?
- Which epithelium lines the mammary alveoli?
- How would you recognise a mammary alveolar cell under the microscope?
- What are myoepithelial cells and where are they found?
- How would you distinguish histologically between lactating and non-lactating mammary tissue?
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