Improved
6112 HealthChanged
3786 LivesSaved
3568 Lives0 lives impacted in the last 24 hrs Learn More
Women know to look for a lump. We do our monthly self-exam and see our healthcare practitioners every year for our check-up. No lump = no cancer, right? Not necessarily.
Inflammatory breast cancer doesn’t have to have a lump. In fact, it can start out with redness of the skin. It may cause your breast to enlarge or swell, be tender, warm to the touch, look like an infection, or look like mastitis, which can happen during breast-feeding! The cancer cells plug up the lymphatic vessels in the skin, not allowing fluid to drain away, which causes the breast to change color and swell.
This is a fairly uncommon cancer, although aggressive in nature. It doesn’t improve with antibiotics if you suspected an infection, nor does it improve with typical mastitis treatments. Women may suspect they have a rash on their breast and let it go before seeing their healthcare practitioner. Don’t wait! If you have any of these symptoms and they do not improve after treatment, then see your doctor! Typical diagnosis is made through mammogram, possibly ultrasound or MRI and biopsy. Because there isn’t a lump, biopsy of the skin is important.
Doing a self-exam every month is just as critical as examining your skin in a mirror to look for any color, texture or nipple changes. If you find something, have it checked out right away, because this is your health we’re talking about!
Add a Comment16 Comments
Diane,
I wanted to chime in on this discussion and respond to your question "has IBC always been around?" This is not a new type of breast cancer. The earliest article about inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) was published in 1816 by Charles Bell. Klotz, in 1869 and Volkmann in 1875 described "carcinomatous mastitis" occurring particularly in young women during pregnancy and lactation. Finally, in 1924, Dr's Lee & Tannenbaum wrote "Inflammatory Carcinoma of the Breast". This article gives a good overview of the disease examining 28 cases.
As Patti shared, there has been increased awareness in recent years thanks to the efforts of those in the IBC advocacy community. For too long most of us did not survive and there was no voice for the disease. Because it is less common many doctors never see a case.
I am fortunate to be a 15 yr survivor of inflammatory breast cancer and use my patient experience and medical training to push for more research that will improve diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory breast cancer. I'm involved with the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, www.ibcresearch.org, a non-profit started in 1999 with the dual mission of facilitating research and raising awareness. It's a slow process but it is clear that more people are aware of the disease and prognosis for those diagnosed is slowly improving.
Keep asking questions!!
June 13, 2009 - 12:50pmGinny Mason RN, BSN
Executive Director
Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation
This Comment
We're honored to have you chime in!! Thank you so much!!
June 13, 2009 - 12:33pmThis Comment
Diane,
Thank you for your kind words. And, I finally added myself here so I am not Anonymous anymore.
From your Bio it sounds like we have a bit in common.
What you are doing here is so very important, and hopefully I may jump in from time to time.
All my best. Patti
June 13, 2009 - 11:51amThis Comment
Patti,
Thank you so much for answering my question. I believe your mission and your promise are working -- look at all the women you have educated with crucial information. Even here on EmpowHer, we have learned to ask what KIND of breast cancer a woman has before we go on to try to answer or research questions for her.
I'm so very sorry you lost your daughter to IBC. I think it's lovely and remarkable that you are creating her legacy in this way to help others.
Thanks again for writing, and much success to the foundation. Diane
June 12, 2009 - 9:05amThis Comment
Hi Diane,
If I might venture a guess as to why you have heard more about IBC lately, it's because we (the IBC community) have pushed very hard for education into the public arena and also the medical community. Sadly women are still being misdiagnosed more often than not, so we have a lot of work yet to do.
My daughter was diagnosed at 37 in 2003 and begged me to write about Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Which I have done. I also went to our local TV channel and KOMO's Michelle Esteban did a piece called 'The Silent Killer', which went national. ABC, CNN and MSNBC picked it up and this piece is still going around the internet in emails. Remembering this piece was done in 2006 and even today is helping women realize there is more than one kind of breast cancer, and this one is "rarely" picked up by mammograms.
I lost my daughter to this disease on August 29, 2007 but have continued with my promise. You can read what our foundation has and is doing by going to www.eraseibc.com.
Science has come a long way since 2003, thankfully and the first in the world IBC clinic was opened in October of 2006 in Houston Texas, at M.D. Anderson.
I hope this answers some of your questions.
Patti Bradfield, President
June 11, 2009 - 11:38amThe Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation
This Comment
Dr. Jones,
Thanks so much for writing about this. Here's my question for you. Has IBC always been around or is it just fairly newly classified?
It seems like I've heard more about it in the last year or two than in the rest of my life combined, and am not sure why. Are the rates of it increasing? Are we just getting more sophisticated in identifying the different cancers from the very beginning? Or is it something else entirely?
Thanks in advance!
June 11, 2009 - 9:32amThis Comment