What do these terms mean?!?

HER-2/neu oncogene is a substance in cells that promotes tumor development.

*But, there is a good drug that I may be able to use, Herceptin, because of this diagnosis.*

Other terms:

Calcifications: Small calcium deposits in breast tissue seen on mammography. Deposits are the result of cell death. Occurs with benign and malignant changes. (My calcifications came back positive for cancer.)

In Situ: In place, localized and confined to one area. A very early stage of cancer.

Invasive Cancer: Cancer that has spread outside its site of origin and is growing into the surrounding tissues.

Staging: An evaluation of the extent of the disease. In breast cancer, it is determined by whether the lymph nodes are involved; if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body (through the lymphatic system or bloodstream) and set up distant metastasis; and the size of tumor. Five different stages are used in breast cancer with levels in each stage. Stage IV is the most serious.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): A magnet scan; a form of x-ray using magnets instead of radiation. MRI gives a more clearly defined picture of fatty tissue than x-ray.

Radiation therapy: Treatment with high energy x-rays to destroy cancer cells.

Radiotherapy: Treatment of cancer with high energy radiation. Radiation therapy may be used to reduce the size of a cancer before surgery or to destroy any remaining cancer cells after surgery.

Chemotherapy: Treatment of cancer by use of chemicals.

Mastectomy: Surgical removal of the breast and some of the surrounding tissue.

Modified Radical Mastectomy: The most common type of mastectomy. Breast skin, nipple, areola and underarm lymph nodes are removed. The chest muscles are saved.

Metastasis: The spread of cancer from one part of the body to another through the lymphatic system or the bloodstream. The cells in the new cancer location are the same type as those in the original sites.

The term "multifocal" means additional cancer was found in the same quadrant as the tumor.