Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Filed in archive Breast Cancer on March 19, 2007

What is inflammatory breast cancer? The National Cancer Institute explains it this way:

Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the 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." IBC accounts for 1 to 5 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States.

What causes this rare form of breast cancer? The Science Blog suggests that it may be a gene:

University of Michigan researchers have found that a gene recently implicated in liver, skin and pancreas cancer can cause an especially deadly kind of breast cancer, and may help explain why it grows, spreads and sometimes proves deadly so quickly.

Inflammatory breast cancer spreads quickly and it can be deadly. Early diagnosis is essential. The Breast Cancer blog lists these symptoms:

• breast redness
• swelling
• warmth
• ridges or pits in the breast skin (a condition referred to as peau d'orange; resembling an orange peel)
• a change in the size or shape of the breast
• nipple discharge or an inverted (pulled back) nipple
• swollen lymph nodes

Some these symptoms, like redness or swelling, are easily mistaken for something as minor as a bug bite or a bruise. Don't take chances. See your doctor at the first hint of a problem.