Inflammatory breast cancer, or IBC, is a rare type of breast cancer that arises in the lymph vessels of the breast. It can occur in both men and women, and does not have a lump as a symptom of the disease, like other kinds of breast cancer. This type of breast cancer is treated differently than other kinds of breast cancer, and the prognosis is very different as well.
Significance
The American Cancer Society estimates that IBC accounts for approximately 1 percent of all breast cancers that are diagnosed in the United States; the National Cancer Institute puts the number at 1 to 5 percent. The exact number is hard to state definitively because the diagnosis may be difficult to make initially, causing discrepancies in reporting rates. IBC is typically diagnosed in younger women as compared to non-IBC breast cancer and is more frequently diagnosed in African-American women.
Features
The features of IBC arise from lymph vessels being blocked by cancer cells, according to the American Cancer Society. Symptoms of the disease include swelling of the breast, itching on the breast surface, a red or pink color on the breast with a pitted appearance of the skin, similar to that of an orange, a retracted nipple and breast pain. Other symptoms can include the breast being warm to the touch and ridged skin. It is an aggressive form of breast cancer and grows quickly.
Diagnosis
A clinical exam by a physician is the basis for a diagnosis of IBC, followed by a biopsy, mammogram and ultrasound, according to the National Cancer Institute. Upon diagnosis, IBC is staged as either Stage IIIB or Stage IV, meaning it is locally advanced or has spread to other parts of the body, respectively.
Treatment
IBC may be treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapy. Treatment generally begins with chemotherapy in order to control the cancer prior to surgery. If the cancer has not spread extensively, surgery may be done to remove the cancer, and radiation and further chemotherapy are used to slow growth of the cancer and kill cancer cells that may have traveled throughout the body. If the cancer is hormone-receptor positive or HER2-positive, hormone therapy may be given as well.
Prognosis
The National Cancer Institute estimates that the five-year survival rate, which is the percentage of people alive five years after diagnosis, for IBC is between 25 and 50 percent. This is lower than the overall five year survival rates of breast cancer that is not inflammatory, because by the time IBC is typically diagnosed, it is more likely to have spread to other parts of the body.
