What were your first signs of inflammatory breast cancer?
What Are the Early Signs and Symptoms of Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
- Pain in the breast.
- Skin changes in the breast area.
- A bruise on the breast that doesn’t go away.
- Sudden swelling of the breast.
- Itching of the breast.
- Nipple changes or discharge.
- Swelling of the lymph nodes under the arm or in the neck.
What causes IBC breast cancer? It’s not clear what causes inflammatory breast cancer. Doctors know that inflammatory breast cancer begins when a breast cell develops changes in its DNA. Most often the cell is located in one of the tubes (ducts) that carry breast milk to the nipple.
What is the survival rate of IBC?
This makes it harder to diagnose. IBC tends to occur in younger women (younger than 40 years of age). Black women appear to develop IBC more often than white women.
5-year relative survival rates for inflammatory breast cancer.
| SEER Stage |
5-year Relative Survival Rate |
| Regional |
54% |
| Distant |
19% |
| All SEER Stages |
40% |
Can you survive inflammatory breast cancer? The 5-year survival rate for people with inflammatory breast cancer is 41%. However, survival rates vary depending on the stage, tumor grade, certain features of the cancer, and the treatment given. If the cancer has spread to the regional lymph nodes, the 5-year survival rate is 56%.
What were your first signs of inflammatory breast cancer? – Additional Questions
Is IBC always fatal?
The researchers found that from 1973-1977, patients diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, also known as IBC, survived for an average of about 50 months, compared to 100 months for patients diagnosed from 2008-2012.
How quickly does IBC progress?
Symptoms of IBC progress quickly, over three to six weeks, and may include: Areas of discoloration (red, pink or purple), a bruise or rash spread over one-third of your breast. Dimpling, pitting or thickening of your breast skin that resembles an orange peel.
Is inflammatory breast cancer aggressive?
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and very aggressive disease in which cancer cells block lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. This type of breast cancer is called “inflammatory” because the breast often looks swollen and red, or inflamed.
Is stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer curable?
With aggressive treatment, stage 3 breast cancer is curable; however, the risk that the cancer will grow back after treatment is high.
What is the best treatment for inflammatory breast cancer?
Treatment usually starts with chemotherapy (chemo) to try to shrink the tumor. If the cancer is HER2-positive, targeted therapy is given along with the chemo. This is typically followed by surgery (mastectomy and lymph node dissection) to remove the cancer. Radiation therapy often follows surgery.
Can IBC be caught early?
IBC doesn’t usually appear like typical breast cancer, and it may be hard to catch early. Because of this, by the time IBC is diagnosed, it’s progressed to a more advanced stage.
How long can you live with untreated IBC?
IBC tends to have a lower survival rate than other forms of breast cancer3. The U.S. median survival rate for people with stage III IBC is approximately 57 months, or just under 5 years. The median survival rate for people with stage IV IBC is approximately 21 months, or just under 2 years.
Can IBC show up overnight?
Inflammatory breast cancer symptoms can appear quite suddenly. Inflammatory breast cancer is often confused with an infection of the breast (mastitis).
Can IBC be seen on ultrasound?
If a physician suspects IBC, it can be detected with a few different imaging tools, such as ultrasounds or MRI mammograms. The problem with these tests is that they are not completely reliable in detecting IBC; a mammogram alone, for example, only has about a 68% detection rate of IBC.
Where does IBC rash start?
Early IBC symptoms may include persistent itching and the appearance of a rash or small irritation similar to an insect bite. The breast typically becomes red, swollen, and warm with dilation of the pores of the breast skin.
Does IBC cause fatigue?
Symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer may appear quickly and within a short time of each other. A symptom is something that only the person experiencing it can identify and describe, such as fatigue, nausea, or pain.
Is IBC hereditary?
Approximately 58% of IBC patients had a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, including first- and second-degree relatives. This analysis suggested a high frequency of familial breast/ovarian cancer among IBC patients which supports further evaluating genetic risks.
How is IBC diagnosed?
A diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer is confirmed by breast imaging, breast core biopsy and a skin punch biopsy. Breast biopsy and skin punch biopsy involves the doctor taking a small sample of breast tissue and breast skin, respectively.
What does IBC look like on ultrasound?
Inflammatory cancer is seen as thickening of the skin and an increase in echogenicity of the breast parenchyma. Ultrasound can detect breast masses and search for multifocality with greater sensitivity than mammography.
Does IBC symptoms come and go?
IBC causes a wide range of symptoms, including breast pain, redness, swelling, changes to the breast skin or nipples, and more. Many of the symptoms of IBC come on suddenly and may even appear to come and go. However, these symptoms will become consistently worse as the disease progresses.
What does an IBC spot look like?
A small red spot that looks very much like an insect bite or rash can be an early sign of IBC. This type of breast cancer is aggressive. It usually involves the lymph nodes by the time of diagnosis.
Can a dermatologist diagnose IBC?
Dermatologists may be the first to identify a breast cancer diagnosis, as a subset of patients first present with direct extension of an underlying tumor or with a cutaneous metastasis.
