What Were Your First Signs of Inflammatory Breast Cancer?

There are quite a lot of distinct differences. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) differs from other types of breast cancer in the following ways:

• The appearance of IBC is quite different from that of typical breast cancer. There is no breast lump, and a mammogram would not be able to detect it. Hence, diagnosis of IBC is difficult.
• IBC is more common in women younger than 40 years.
• African American women are more likely to develop IBC than white women.
• IBC is more common among obese or overweight women.
• IBC is much more aggressive than other types of cancer.
• Unlike typical breast cancer that can be detected in its earlier stage, IBC is often detected at a later stage.
• The chances of metastasis in IBC are quite high compared with those in other types of breast cancer.
• Women with IBC tend to have a worse treatment outcome than those with other common types of breast cancer.

If you have swelling, redness, or tenderness on your breast that doesn’t subside with antibiotics after a week, your doctor may want to know if you have inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Your doctor may order one or more of the following tests:

• Mammogram (as a primary screening tool)
• Breast ultrasound
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Computerized tomography (CT) scan
• Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
• Biopsy (a sure way to confirm cancer that involves a surgical procedure to remove the breast tissue for examination under a microscope)

Once the diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is confirmed, doctors treat it aggressively. Various treatments may include one or more of the therapies that include:

• Chemotherapy (anti-cancer drugs given before surgery to shrink the tumor and allow surgery)
• Mastectomy (surgery to remove all of your affected breast)
• Targeted therapy (HER2-targetted therapy if the cancer cells contain too much HER2-protein)
• Hormone therapy (medications to treat the cancer cells that have hormone)
• Radiation (often given after chemotherapy and surgery in the form of high-energy beams targeted toward the tumor)
• Immunotherapy (often given in the advanced stage of cancer by using your immune system to fight cancer)

You can get enrolled yourself in a clinical trial that involves research on newer therapies to treat IBC. You can ask your doctor if you can go ahead with any one of them and, if yes, which one will be right for you.