Can ibc occur in both breasts

Also, because inflammatory breast cancer is so aggressive, it can arise between scheduled screening mammograms and progress quickly. The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer may be mistaken for those of mastitis, which is an infection of the breast, or another form of locally advanced breast cancer. To help prevent delays in diagnosis and in choosing the best course of treatment, an international panel of experts published guidelines on how doctors can diagnose and stage inflammatory breast cancer correctly.

Their recommendations are summarized below. Proper diagnosis and staging of inflammatory breast cancer helps doctors develop the best treatment plan and estimate the likely outcome of the disease. Patients diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer may want to consult a doctor who specializes in this disease.

Inflammatory breast cancer is generally treated first with systemic chemotherapy to help shrink the tumor, then with surgery to remove the tumor, followed by radiation therapy. This approach to treatment is called a multimodal approach. Studies have found that women with inflammatory breast cancer who are treated with a multimodal approach have better responses to therapy and longer survival.

Treatments used in a multimodal approach may include those described below. The prognosis, or likely outcome, for a patient diagnosed with cancer is often viewed as the chance that the cancer will be treated successfully and that the patient will recover completely.

Because inflammatory breast cancer usually develops quickly and spreads aggressively to other parts of the body, women diagnosed with this disease, in general, do not survive as long as women diagnosed with other types of breast cancer. Women who have inflammatory breast cancer are encouraged to talk with their doctor about their prognosis, given their particular situation. Ongoing research, especially at the molecular level, will increase our understanding of how inflammatory breast cancer begins and progresses.

This knowledge should enable the development of new treatments and more accurate prognoses for women diagnosed with this disease. It is important, therefore, that women who are diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer talk with their doctor about the option of participating in a clinical trial. NCI sponsors clinical trials of new treatments for all types of cancer, as well as trials that test better ways to use existing treatments. Participation in clinical trials is an option for many patients with inflammatory breast cancer, and all patients with this disease are encouraged to consider treatment in a clinical trial.

People interested in taking part in a clinical trial should talk with their doctor. Additional information about clinical trials is available online. Menu Contact Dictionary Search. Understanding Cancer. What Is Cancer? Cancer Statistics. Cancer Disparities. Cancer Causes and Prevention. Risk Factors. Cancer Prevention Overview. Cancer Screening Overview. Screening Tests. Diagnosis and Staging. Questions to Ask about Your Diagnosis. Types of Cancer Treatment.

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Talking about Your Advanced Cancer. Planning for Advanced Cancer. Advanced Cancer and Caregivers. However, it is possible to see and feel the skin thickening that often happens with IBC. This skin thickening can also be detected on a mammogram. In most cases, inflammatory breast cancer is diagnosed after you or your doctor can see or feel breast changes such as redness, swelling, warmth, or an orange-peel look to the skin. Because IBC grows quickly, it is usually found at a locally advanced stage, meaning that cancer cells have spread into nearby breast tissue or lymph nodes.

Just about all people with IBC have evidence of cancer in the lymph nodes. In approximately 1 out of 3 people with IBC, the cancer has spread from the breast to other areas of the body. Keep in mind, though, that there are a variety of treatment options available for IBC. To diagnose inflammatory breast cancer, your doctor will perform a biopsy. Biopsy is a surgical procedure that removes some of the suspicious breast tissue for examination under a microscope.

This might include yearly mammograms. You don't have to wait for your next appointment. You can also speak to your GP. In some hospitals you don't have regular appointments after treatment. But if you have new symptoms or are worried about anything you can phone your doctor or breast care nurse or make an appointment to see them.

UK guidelines say that everyone who has had treatment for early breast cancer should have a copy of a written care plan. The care plan has information about tests you will have, and signs and symptoms to look out for. It will also include contact details for specialist staff, such as your breast care nurse. It is difficult to carry out clinical trials for rare types of breast cancer.

This is because it is not usually possible to recruit enough people into a trial. If possible, researchers try to co-ordinate international trials so there are more people available and the results then have more value. American researchers have set up the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Registry. The register is collecting blood and tissue samples from people with inflammatory breast cancer.

They hope this will help them to understand this type of cancer better. Doctors are also trying to find out why this type of breast cancer can be more difficult to treat and how it is different to other breast cancers.

Research has already shown that most women should have chemotherapy before their surgery. Women whose cancers have particular receptors might also have treatment with targeted cancer drugs. Doctors are trying to improve on this treatment and look at whether adding other types of targeted cancer drugs could help.

International trials are also looking at ways to improve treatment for people with inflammatory breast cancer that has spread. Talk with your doctor about how these numbers may apply to you, as he or she is familiar with your situation.

A relative survival rate compares women with the same type and stage of breast cancer to women in the overall population. The SEER database tracks 5-year relative survival rates for breast cancer in the United States, based on how far the cancer has spread. Instead, it groups cancers into localized, regional, and distant stages:. In most cases, treatment is chemotherapy first to try to shrink the tumor, followed by surgery to remove the cancer.

Radiation is given after surgery, and, in some cases, more treatment may be given after radiation.