Home > Cancer and Treatments > Breast Cancer > Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Questions and Answers

What is inflammatory breast cancer?
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare form of breast cancer distinguished by the fact that cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast, often causing the breast to look swollen, red, itchy or generally inflamed. This is a highly aggressive form of cancer with a 10-year disease-free survival rate of only 25 percent, as compared with 65 percent for all invasive breast cancers.

Who gets inflammatory breast cancer?
Each year, more than 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer; of these patients 3 percent to 6 percent have inflammatory breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer tends to be diagnosed in younger women as opposed to other non-inflammatory breast cancers. It occurs more frequently and at a younger age in African Americans than in whites. Like other types of breast cancer, it can occur in men, but usually at an older age than in women. Some studies have shown an association between family history of breast cancer and inflammatory breast cancer, but more studies are needed to draw firm conclusions.

What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer may include redness, swelling and warmth in the breast. Often, there is no distinct lump in the breast, as in other types of breast cancer. The breast's skin may also appear pink, reddish purple or bruised. Because of the build up of fluid and swelling in the breast, the skin may have ridges or appear pitted, like the skin of an orange. Other symptoms include heaviness, burning, aching, increase in breast size, tenderness or an inverted nipple.

These symptoms usually develop quickly over a period of weeks or months. Swollen lymph nodes may be present under the arm, above the collarbone or in both places. However, it is important to note that these symptoms may also be signs of other conditions, including infection, injury or other types of cancer.

How is it diagnosed?
Inflammatory breast cancer is diagnosed primarily based on the results of a doctor's clinical examination. A biopsy, mammogram and breast ultrasound are used to confirm the diagnosis. A doctor will assign a stage to the cancer that describes the extent or severity of the cancer. This will help the doctor develop a treatment plan and estimate the likelihood of recovery or recurrence.

Inflammatory breast cancer is an especially aggressive, advanced breast cancer. Because of this, it is usually classified as either stage IIIB, which indicates that it is locally advanced, or stage IV, which means it has spread to other organs. It is important to note that staging refers to a particular type of cancer and may not correlate to staging in different types of cancer, including other breast cancers.

Treatment
Chemotherapy, targeted therapy, surgery, radiation therapy and hormonal therapy are used to treat inflammatory breast cancer. Patients may also receive supportive care to manage the side effects of cancer and its treatment.

Typically, chemotherapy is the first treatment for patients with inflammatory breast cancer. The goal is to control or kill cancer cells, including those that may have spread to other parts of the body. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment, which means it affects all the cells in the body.

After chemotherapy, some patients may undergo surgery and radiation therapy to the chest wall. Both treatments are local: They only affect cells in the tumor and the immediately surrounding area. The purpose of surgery is to remove the tumor from the body; radiation therapy is used to destroy any remaining cancer cells. Surgery to remove as much breast tissue as possible is called a mastectomy. The lymph nodes under the arm will also be removed at this time for later examination in the lab.

After the initial treatments, some inflammatory breast cancer patients will generally receive other systemic treatments to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. These treatments may include additional chemotherapy; hormone therapy to block the effects of estrogen, which can promote breast cancer growth; and targeted therapy.

Supportive care also is provided to improve quality of life. This type of treatment prevents or treats possible symptoms of the disease and side effects caused by treatment. Supportive care includes a wide range of therapies, including compression garments to help with swelling caused by fluid build-up and counseling to help cope with the emotional aspects of having cancer.

Prognosis
Because inflammatory breast cancer is more likely to have spread to other parts of the body before it is diagnosed, the survival rate for patients with this type of cancer is typically lower than the survival rate for other breast cancers. However, it is important to keep in mind that these statistics are averages based on large numbers of patients. They cannot be used to predict what will happen to a particular patient because each person's situation is unique. Patients are encouraged to talk to their doctors about their own particular case.

return to the top of page

Adjust text size

University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
1500 East Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

This site is part of the U-M Health System. The information presented is not a tool for self diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. © 2008 U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center