Breast Cancer Advice Center

Could i have inflammatory breast cancer?

i read that u cant find inflamatory breast cancer on a mammogram or an ultrasound or self exam so how do you know if u have it my breast have been hurting for a while and im scared i might have it

Public Comments

1. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare and aggressive form of invasive breast cancer that is usually not detected by mammograms or ultrasounds. IBC usually grows in nests or sheets rather than as a confined solid tumor and can be diffuse throughout the breast with no palpable mass. The cancer cells clog the lymphatic system just below the skin, resulting in lymph node involvement. Increased breast density compared to prior mammograms should be considered suspicious.
   
   However, the main symptoms of IBC are breast swelling, inflammation, pink, red, or a dark colored area (erythema), sometimes with texture similar to the skin of an orange (peau d'orange), ridges and thickened areas of the breast skin, an area of the breast that is warm to the touch, what appears to be a persistent bruise, itching (pruritus) that is unrelenting and unaffected by medicated creams and ointments, increase in breast size over a short period of time, nipple flattening, retraction, or discharge, breast pain that is not cyclic in nature and may be constant or stabbing, or swollen lymph nodes in the armpit or above the collar bone. Since many of these symptoms mimic a breast infection, doctors frequently treat inflammatory breast cancer merely as an infection. When symptoms do not improve after antibiotic treatment for the suspected “infection” only then is the inflammatory breast cancer diagnosed.
   
   IBC has an extremely high risk of recurrence and a very poor prognosis. It is the most lethal form of breast cancer. To improve the chances of survival it is important that symptoms are recognized early, resulting in an immediate diagnosis and treatment. Chemotherapy is usually begun within days of diagnosis. Without treatment, chances of 5-year survival for individuals with inflammatory breast cancer are very poor. With treatment, about 50% of patients will be living 5 years after diagnosis.
   (quote from "www.smile.org.au")
   
   Pls visit the website "www.smile.org.au" by yourself. There is a huge database about the symptoms, causes, preventions and effects of cancers, as well as a wide range of cancer therapy.
   
   Another suggestion is you visit a specialty doctor, who will give you further advices.
2. you go to the DR and tell them you are suspicious of IBC...this is NOT something to dilly dally around with
3. Go to a gynecologist or to a breast specialist physician (look in the yellow pages)...and get checked out..
4. Usually cancer doesn't hurt. A mammogram would show suspicious areas if they were there, more likely than not. In any event, you need to go see your doctor. A mammogram is the best starting place. If there are no spots on there, you probably don't have anything to worry about. If they see something, they can biopsy it and then they'll know if it's IBC or not. In any event, odds are in your favor that it's NOT cancer.
   
   Good luck.