Description

Inflammatory breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that causes the swelling of the breasts, and skin changes.

Inflammatory breast cancer occurs when the growth of cells form in the tissue of the breast. Cells break away from where they started to grow and travel to the lymph vessels of the skin. The cells can block blood vessels and cause the skin of the breast of a bloated look. The skin of the breast may look red or purple.

Inflammatory breast cancer is considered a locally advanced cancer. When a locally advanced cancer, which means it has spread from where it started to nearby tissue and, possibly, to the nearby lymph nodes.

Inflammatory breast cancer can easily be confused with a breast infection, which is a much more common cause of swelling of the breasts, and skin changes. Seek medical attention right away if you notice skin changes in the breast.

Symptoms

Inflammatory breast cancer does not form a mass, as occurs with other forms of breast cancer. In contrast, the signs and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include:

  • Rapid change in the appearance of a chest, in the course of several weeks.
  • Thickness, heaviness or swelling of one breast.
  • Changes in the color of the skin, giving the chest is bright red, purple, pink or bruised appearance.
  • Unusual warmth of the affected breast.
  • The formation of dimples or ridges in the skin of the affected breast, similar to an orange peel.
  • The tenderness, the pain or the pain.
  • Enlargement of the lymph nodes under the arm, above the collarbone or just below the collarbone.
  • Flattened nipple or a nipple that turns inward in the affected breast.

For the inflammatory breast cancer is diagnosed, these symptoms must have been present for less than six months.

When to see a doctor

Make an appointment with a doctor or other health care professional if you have any symptoms that worry you.

Other, more common conditions have symptoms similar to those of inflammatory breast cancer. A breast injury or infection of the breast, it is called mastitis, the skin can cause changes in the color, the swelling and the pain.

Inflammatory breast cancer can easily be confused with a breast infection, which is much more common. It is reasonable and common to first be treated with antibiotics for a week or more. If the symptoms do not respond to antibiotics, further testing is not necessary. But if the condition does not improve, your healthcare provider may consider it more serious causes of your symptoms, such as inflammatory breast cancer.

If you've been treated for a breast infection, but your symptoms continue, contact your health care professional. You can have a mammogram or other test to assess your symptoms. The only way that a health care professional can tell if your symptoms are caused by inflammatory breast cancer is to remove a sample of tissue for analysis.

Causes

Inflammatory breast cancer occurs when cells in the womb develop changes in their DNA. A cell's DNA contains the instructions that tell the cell what to do. In healthy cells, the DNA contains the instructions to grow and multiply at a set rate. The instructions that tell cells to die at a set time. In cancer cells, changes in DNA to give different instructions. The changes, to tell the cancer cells to make many more cells quickly. Cancer cells can continue living when healthy cells would die. This makes too many cells.

Most often, changes in the DNA occur in a cell in one of the tubes, called ducts, which can lead to breast milk in the nipples. But the cancer can also begin with a cell phone in the glandular tissue called lobules, where milk can be produced.

In inflammatory breast cancer, the cancer cells break away from where they started. Travel to the lymph vessels of the skin of the breast. The cells grow to clog the blood vessels. The obstruction in the lymphatic vessels that causes changes in skin color, swelling, and dimpling of the skin. This skin is a classic sign of inflammatory breast cancer.

Risk factors

The factors that increase the risk of inflammatory breast cancer include:

The fact of being a woman

Women are much more likely than men to suffer from breast cancer, including inflammatory breast cancer. Everyone is born with some breast tissue, so anyone can get breast cancer.

To be young

Inflammatory breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed in people in their 40s and 50s.

Be Black

Blacks have a higher risk of inflammatory breast cancer than white people.

Obese

People who are obese have a higher risk of inflammatory breast cancer.

Prevention

Make changes in your everyday life can help reduce your risk of breast cancer. Try:

Ask about breast cancer screening

Talk with your doctor or other health care professional about when to start screening for breast cancer. Ask about the benefits and risks of the test. Together, you can decide which screening tests for breast cancer are right for you.

Become familiar with your breasts through breast self-exam for breast awareness

You can choose to become familiar with their breasts from time to time inspection of them during a breast self-exam for breast awareness. If you find a new change, lumps or other unusual signs in your breasts, tell a health professional immediately.

Breast awareness can't prevent breast cancer. But it can help to better understand the look and feel of your breasts. This may make it more likely that you'll notice if something changes.

Drink alcohol only in moderation, if at all

If you choose to drink, limit the amount of alcoholic beverages to no more than one drink per day. For the prevention of breast cancer, there is no safe amount of alcohol. So if you are very concerned about your risk of breast cancer, you can choose not to drink alcohol.

Exercise most days of the week

Try to do at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. If you haven't been active lately, ask your health care professional if the exercise is well and start slowly.

Limit of hormone therapy during menopause

The combination of hormone therapy may increase the risk of breast cancer. Talk with a health professional about the benefits and risks of hormone therapy.

Some people have symptoms during menopause, causing discomfort. These people may decide that the risks of hormone therapy are acceptable to obtain relief. To reduce the risk of breast cancer, the use of the lowest dose of hormone therapy possible for the least amount of time.

Maintain a healthy weight

If your weight is healthy, work to maintain that weight. If you need to lose weight, consult with a health care professional about the healthy ways to lose your weight. Eating fewer calories, and gradually increase the amount of exercise you do.

Diagnosis

Inflammatory breast cancer is a clinical diagnosis that often starts with a discussion of your medical history and an examination of the breast. Other tests include imaging tests and removing some cells for analysis.

Tests and procedures used to diagnose inflammatory breast cancer include:

  • A physical exam. Your health care professional examines your breast to see if there are changes in the color of the skin, swelling and other symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer.
  • Imaging tests. Imaging tests create pictures of the body. Your health care professional may recommend an x-ray of the breast, is called a mammogram, or ultrasound of the breast to locate signs of breast cancer. Additional imaging tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging , may be advisable in certain situations.
  • The removal of a sample of tissue for analysis. A biopsy is a procedure to remove a sample of tissue for testing in a lab. The tissue can be removed through a needle that is placed through the skin and into the suspicion of cancer cells. A biopsy of the skin may also be useful. This type of biopsy removes a sample of cells from the skin. The sample is analyzed in a laboratory to see if it is cancer.

Tests to determine the extent of the cancer

If you are diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, may do other tests to see if the cancer has spread. These tests can help your health care team figure out the extent of your cancer, also called stage. Cancer staging tests often involve testing image. Tests to detect signs of cancer in the lymph nodes or other parts of your body. Your healthcare team uses the stage of the cancer, the results of the test to help you to create your treatment plan.

Imaging tests may include mri , CT , bone scan and a positron emission tomography scan, also called a PET scan. Not each of the tests is appropriate for each person. Talk with your healthcare provider about which tests are best for you.

The stages of breast cancer in the range of 0 to 4. Lower numbers mean the cancer is small and has not spread from the point where it started. As the cancer grows, your scenario becomes larger. Because inflammatory breast cancer is aggressive and grows rapidly, the stages are usually in the range of 3 to 4. In stage 4, the cancer has spread to other areas of the body such as organs, and bones.

Treatment

The inflammatory breast cancer starting treatment with chemotherapy. If the cancer has not spread to other areas of the body, the treatment continues with the surgery, and radiation therapy. If the cancer has spread to other areas of the body, your health care team may recommend other medications in addition to chemotherapy. These treatments can slow the growth of cancer.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy treats the cancer with strong medications. You may receive chemotherapy drugs through a vein, in the form of a pill, or both.

Chemotherapy is used before surgery for inflammatory breast cancer. This pre-surgical treatment, called neoadjuvant therapy aims to reduce the cancer before surgery. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy increases the chance that the surgery will be a success.

If the cancer has a high risk of returning or spreading to another part of your body, your health care professional may recommend additional chemotherapy after you've completed other treatments. Additional chemotherapy decreases the likelihood that the cancer will recur.

Surgery

After chemotherapy, you may have a procedure to remove the affected breast and some of the nearby lymph nodes. Generally, the operation includes:

  • The surgery to remove the breast is called a mastectomy. A total mastectomy removes all of the breast tissue. This includes the lobules, ducts, fatty tissue and skin, including the nipple and areola.
  • The surgery to remove the lymph nodes nearby, called axillary dissection. The surgeon removes the lymph nodes under the arm and near the affected breast.

Talk with your health care team about your options for breast reconstruction. The surgery to reconstruct the breast is often delayed until after the completion of all treatments of breast cancer.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy treats cancer with powerful rays of energy. The energy can come from X-rays, protons or other sources. During radiation therapy, you lie on a table while a machine moves around you. The machine directs radiation to precise points on your body.

For the inflammatory breast cancer, radiation therapy is used after surgery to kill any cancer cells that may remain. The radiation is aimed at your chest, axilla and shoulder.

Targeted therapy

Targeted therapy for cancer is a treatment that uses drugs that attack specific chemicals in cancer cells. By blocking these chemicals, specific treatments can cause cancer cells to die.

For example, several targeted therapy drugs are focused on a protein that some breast cancer cells make too. This protein is called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, also known as HER2. The protein helps the breast cancer cells to grow and survive. By the orientation of the cells make too much HER2 , the drugs can damage the cancer cells without affecting healthy cells.

If your inflammatory cells of breast cancer is HER2-positive , your health care team may recommend the combination of targeted therapy with her first treatment of chemotherapy. After the surgery, targeted therapy may be combined with hormonal therapy.

For the cancer that spreads to other parts of the body, the targeted therapy drug that focus on other changes within the cancer cells are available. Cancer cells can be tested to see that the targeted therapies could be helpful to you.

Hormone therapy

Hormone therapy is used to treat breast cancer that the use of the body's hormones to grow. Health professionals refer to these types of cancer such as estrogen receptor positive, also called ER-positive and progesterone receptor positive, also called PR positive.

Hormone therapy may be used after surgery or other treatments to reduce the possibility of the cancer coming back. If the cancer has already spread, hormone therapy can reduce and control it.

Treatments that can be used in hormone therapy include:

  • Medications that block hormones from attaching to cancer cells, so-called selective modulators of the estrogen receptor.
  • Medicines that stop the body from producing estrogen after menopause, called aromatase inhibitors.
  • Surgery or medicines that prevent the ovaries from producing hormones.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy for cancer is a treatment with a medication that helps the body's immune system destroys the cancer cells. The immune system fights diseases by attacking the germs and other cells that should not be in the body. Cancer cells survive by hiding from the immune system. Immunotherapy helps the cells of the immune system find and kill cancer cells.

Immunotherapy might be an option if the cancer has spread to other areas of the body and is triple negative. Triple negative means that the cancer cells do not have receptors for HER2 or the hormones estrogen or progesterone. Your healthcare provider can test your cancer cells to see if it is likely to respond to immunotherapy.

Palliative care

Palliative care is a special type of health care that helps people with serious illnesses feel better. If you have cancer, palliative care can help relieve the pain and other symptoms. A team of health professionals providing palliative care. This may include doctors, nurses and other specially trained professionals. Your goal is to improve the quality of life for you and your family.

Palliative care specialists work with you, your family and your health care team to help you to feel better. They provide an extra layer of support, while you have cancer treatment. You can have palliative care at the same time so strong cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

When palliative care is used along with other treatments, people with cancer may feel better and live longer.

Coping and support

Inflammatory breast cancer progresses rapidly. Sometimes, this means that you need to start the treatment before you've had time to think at all. With time, you will find what helps you to deal with the uncertainty and distress of a cancer diagnosis. Until then, you may find that it helps to:

Learn enough about the inflammatory breast cancer to make decisions about your care

Ask your health care team about your cancer, including your test results, treatment options, and, if you like, your prognosis. As you learn more about inflammatory breast cancer, you can be more confident in making treatment choices.

Keep friends and family close

Keep your close relationships strong can help you deal with the inflammatory breast cancer. Friends and family can provide the practical support that you may need, such as help to take care of your house if you're in the hospital. And that you can serve as emotional support when you feel overwhelmed by the fact of having cancer.

Find someone to talk to

Find someone who is willing to listen to you talk about your hopes and fears. This can be a friend or family member. The concern and understanding of a counselor, medical social worker, clergy member or cancer support group may also be useful.

Ask your health care team about support groups in your area. Other sources of information are the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society.

Preparing for your appointment

Make an appointment with a doctor or other health care professional if you have any symptoms that worry you.

If you are diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, you will be referred to a doctor who specializes in the treatment of cancer is called an oncologist.

Because appointments can be brief, it is a good idea to be prepared. Here's some information to help you prepare.

What you can do

  • Be aware of any pre-appointment restrictions. At the time you make the appointment, be sure to ask if there is anything that you need to do in advance, such as restrict your diet.
  • Write down any symptoms you're experiencing, including any that do not seem to be related to the reason for which you scheduled the appointment.
  • Write down key personal information, including major stresses or recent life changes.
  • Make a list of all medications, vitamins or supplements you are taking and the dose.
  • Have a family member or friend. Sometimes it can be very difficult to remember all the information provided during an appointment. Someone who goes with you may remember something that you missed or forgot.
  • Write questions to ask their health care team.

Your time with your health care team is limited, so preparing a list of questions can help you make the most of their time together. A list of questions from most important to least important in case time runs out. For the inflammatory breast cancer, some basic questions to ask include:

  • Do I have inflammatory breast cancer?
  • Has my inflammatory breast cancer spread beyond my breast?
  • I need more tests?
  • I have a copy of my pathology report?
  • What are my treatment options?
  • What are the possible risks of each treatment option?
  • Can any of the treatments cure my inflammatory breast cancer?
  • There is a treatment you think is best for me?
  • If you have a friend or family member in my situation, what would you recommend?
  • How much time can I take for choosing a treatment?
  • How will cancer treatment affect my daily life?
  • You should see a specialist? What will that cost, and will my insurance cover it?
  • Are there brochures or other printed material that I can take with me? What sites do you recommend?

Do not hesitate to ask other questions.

What to expect from your doctor

Be prepared to answer questions, such as:

  • When did your symptoms begin?
  • The symptoms been continuous or occasional?
  • How severe are the symptoms?
  • What, if anything, seems to improve your symptoms?
  • What, if anything, appears to worsen your symptoms?
Symptoms and treatment of Inflammatory breast cancer