Invasive breast cancer

1. Big picture

Invasive breast cancer is a malignant breast tumor that has crossed the basement membrane and can therefore invade lymphatics, blood vessels, regional lymph nodes, and distant organs.

For the surgery exam, the core logic is:

Breast symptom or screening abnormality
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Triple assessment: examination + imaging + biopsy
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Confirm invasive cancer and biological subtype
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Stage: local tumor + axilla + distant metastasis
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Choose treatment sequence:
early operable → surgery first
locally advanced/aggressive biology → neoadjuvant therapy first
metastatic → systemic/palliative, surgery only selected cases

The surgical goal is **loco