Breast curriculum

The breast curriculum is one of our curriculum articles and aims to be a collection of articles that represent core breast knowledge.

Definitions

Topics pertaining to the breast. 

Anatomy

An understanding of the anatomy of relevant structures is essential. Core anatomical topics include:

• ducts
  • lactiferous ducts
• lobules
  • terminal ductal lobular unit
• nipple-areola complex
• mammary fat 
• muscles
  • pectoralis major muscle
  • sternalis muscle
• Cooper's ligaments
• lymph nodes
  • axillary nodes: level I, II, III
  • internal mammary lymph nodes
  • supraclavicular lymph nodes
  • Sappey's plexus
• accessory breast tissue

Radiological examinations

• breast ultrasound
  • breast ultrasound technique
  • ultrasound guided breast biopsy technique
  • automated volumetric breast ultrasound (AFFBUS)
• mammography
  • types of mammography views
  • stereotactic guided biopsy technique
• breast MRI
  • breast MRI protocol
• breast ductography
• breast tomosynthesis (DBT)

Radiographic signs

• linguine sign
• nipple retraction
• stepladder sign
• tent sign

Pathology

• breast lumps
• breast calcifications
  • microcalcifications in the breast
  • macrocalcifications in the breast
• benign breast lesions/conditions
  • breast cysts
    • sebaceous cysts of the breast
  • breast hamartoma/fibroadenolipoma
  • breast hematoma
  • fibrocystic change of the breast
  • fibroadenoma
    • complex fibroadenoma
  • intraductal papilloma of the breast
  • juvenile papillomatosis of the breast
  • gynecomastia
  • pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia
  • radial scar
  • sclerosing adenosis of the breast
  • steatocystoma multiplex involving the breast
  • mammary duct ectasia/plasma cell mastitis
  • fat necrosis of the breast
• benign breast lesions/conditions relating to vessels
  • breast hemangioma
  • Mondor disease
• breast neoplasms: overview
• borderline breast lesions
  • atypical ductal hyperplasia
  • atypical lobular hyperplasia
  • phyllodes tumor
• malignant breast lesions
  • primary breast cancer
    • ductal carcinoma in situ
    • invasive ductal carcinoma
      • invasive ductal carcinoma (not otherwise specified)
      • tubular carcinoma of the breast
    • lobular carcinoma in situ
    • invasive lobular carcinoma
    • mucinous (colloid) carcinoma of the breast 
    • papillary carcinoma of the breast
    • inflammatory breast cancer
  • malignant phyllodes tumor
  • male breast cancer
  • metastasis to the breast
  • breast lymphoma
  • angiosarcoma of the breast
• breast implants
  • breast implant rupture
• breast conditions associated with pregnancy
  • lactating adenoma
  • galactocoele
• syndromes involving the breast
  • Stewart Treves syndrome
  • Poland syndrome

Classifications

• BIRADS classification system
• ACR classification system
• Nottingham classification system

Procedures

Ultrasound guided

• ultrasound-guided breast cyst aspiration
• ultrasound-guided breast core biopsy
• ultrasound-guided hook-wire insertion
• ultrasound-guided Mammotome™

Stereotactic

• stereotactic breast biopsy
• stereotactic hook-wire insertion
• stereotactic Mammotome™

MRI

• breast MRI
  • breast MRI mass enhancement
  • breast MRI non mass enhancement