Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer has no lump or mass that can be felt. It is a very rare and dangerous type of breast cancer. It cannot be detected by self breast examination and mammogram. In inflammatory breast cancer there is infiltration of the skin and lymph vessels of the breast by cancer cells. The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are a swollen, red and warm breast which is brought on by the lymph vessels becoming blocked by the breast cancer cells. The breast has a typical appearance of an individual with cellulite. Other symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include, on the affected side, enlarged lymph nodes present under the arm or it may be above the collar bone.

Symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include:Breast becomes red, purple, pink or bruised; Breast becomes firm and enlarged;A warm feeling in the breast; Itching of the breast; Pain; Skin texture similar to an orange peel;

Inflammatory breast cancer is the only kind of breast cancer that virtually everyone agrees doesn't call for mastectomy as its sole primary treatment. Because it involves the lymphatic vessels of the skin as well as of the breast tissue and the skin is sewn back after mastectomy (surgical removal of the breast), doing a mastectomy will leave a great chance of recurrence in the skin. Chemotherapy would be treatment of choice for this type of breast cancer before any local treatment can be entertained.

The incidence of inflammatory breast cancer is quite variable. Women with this cancer tend to be significantly younger than those with other breast cancers and African Americans with this type of cancer tend to be younger than Caucasians.

As with all advanced cancers, chemotherapy is started with three or four cycles of Adriamycin and Cytoxan with or without Taxol or Taxotere. After which local treatment can be done - usually in the form of mastectomy. After mastectomy, most women will receive four more cycles of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy to the chest wall. Serious though it can be, inflammatory breast cancer is still an extremely variable disease.

There is no particular age at which an individual could get the disease. However, studies have shown that the average age ranges from about 45 and 55 years of age, but patients could be younger or older than this age range. The amount of new cases of inflammatory breast cancer diagnosed every year in the United States varies.