What is Paget’s disease of the nipple?
Paget’s disease is a cancer of the nipple.
This information deals with Paget’s disease of the nipple, where there is no sign of any other cancer in the breast apart from in the nipple and surrounding area (areola).
Many people with Paget’s disease of the nipple also have a breast cancer somewhere else in the same breast. The breast cancer may be an invasive breast cancer or it may be a ‘pre-invasive’ cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS.
If you have been diagnosed with Paget’s disease of the nipple and you also have a breast cancer in the same breast, there are other information resources that are more suitable for you. Further reading is available on this site about early breast cancer and DCIS. If you would like to order a booklet about early breast cancer or DCIS, call National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre on 1800 624 973 or you may order or view NBOCC resource(s) online.
About 13,000 women and 100 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Australia. Around 2 out of every 100 cases of breast cancer involves Paget’s disease of the nipple. We do not know how many people are diagnosed each year with Paget’s disease of the nipple without an underlying invasive breast cancer or DCIS.
