The Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA), the Network of Oncology Patient Navigation in West Africa (NOPNWA), and the Amorvard Foundation sponsored a virtual lobular breast cancer training session for doctors, nurses, and other care providers from hospitals and clinics across West Africa in early May. There were approximately 40 registered attendees.

The purpose of the training was to provide information to help providers understand the key factors differentiating invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), also known as lobular breast cancer, from other breast cancer subtypes. The discussion included an overview of what ILC is, how it presents, issues with imaging, information regarding how ILC can metastasize to sites different from ductal breast cancer and about the effectiveness of chemotherapy, and information about studies that suggest that in some cases a diagnosis of ILC means an increased risk of a late recurrence.

Experts providing the training included Dr. Rita Mukhtar and Dr. Megan Kruse, both members of the LBCA’s Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Mukhtar is the assistant professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a fellowship trained breast surgical oncologist. Her research focuses on invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC), including work on surgical outcomes in ILC and novel imaging tools for ILC.

Dr. Kruse is a breast medical oncologist at the Taussig Cancer Institute of Cleveland Clinic. Her main area of clinical investigation is optimization of care for patients with lobular breast cancer with a special focus on the role of the immune microenvironment.

LBCA thanks Olayinka Odumosu, a care navigator working with cancer patients in Lagos, Nigeria, for collaborating with LBCA on the training and serving as its host. Read Olayinka’s story here.