Introduction
When an individual hears the word “cancer”, it automatically hits the panic button, and not only does it take a toll on a person’s physical health but also causes a lot of mental stress. Breast cancer is one of the most commonly prevalent cancer that affects many women around the globe. Though breast cancers are common, inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but aggressive form of it. There are around one to five percent of cases only that are recorded for inflammatory breast cancer. As this cancer is aggressive, it can grow rapidly and lead to many complications so seeking immediate medical help is necessary in this condition.
What Is Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
Inflammatory breast cancer is a slow aggravating type of cancer that can lead to swelling and inflammation. The term inflammatory breast cancer is given as it appears or shows symptoms like breast infection. It is a little bit hard to manifest, as it does not have any lumps, and it occurs due to blocked lymph vessels because of the cancer cells within the skin of the breast. Once the vessels are blocked, the breast appears red and swollen. Also, because of no lump, it is left undiagnosed many at times. It mostly affects women below 40 years of age and obese people.
What Are the Factors That Cause Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
The main cause of inflammatory breast cancer is unknown but genetic and environmental factors are said to be a combined causes of this condition.
Inflammatory breast cancer is considered to be an invasive ductal carcinoma. It occurs when the abnormal cell growth reaches the milk ducts and starts spreading in the other parts of the breast tissue. The healthy tissues are invaded, which leads to aggressive and rapid growth of the cancer. The abnormal cells occur due to changes in the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), and most of the changes are seen in one of the ducts or tubes carrying milk to the nipple. The redness and swelling occurs due to blocked lymphatic vessels.
Females who have a history of the same condition in the family are also at a higher risk of acquiring this condition. Age, obesity or being overweight, and exposure to toxic chemicals or radiation are also some of the factors that can lead to inflammatory breast cancer. Though it can occur at any age, it more commonly occurs in young females who already have had or have any type of cancer.
What Are the Symptoms of Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer progress fast in the span of weeks or months. As the lymph channels are blocked, it may cause symptoms like:
-
Swelling around the breast.
-
Redness.
-
Hot to touch the affected area.
-
Thick patches or ridges of the skin of the breast.
-
Pain and tenderness.
-
Discharge from the nipple.
-
Inverted nipple.
-
Swelling of lymph nodes around the underarms or collarbone.
-
Heaviness or one side of the breast appear bigger than the other.
-
Rashes around the breast.
How Is Inflammatory Breast Cancer Diagnosed?
Detecting the inflammatory breast is quite challenging because its symptoms are taken as a breast infection and does not show up in many scans. So the doctor will advice to get a physical examination, and certain other tests to diagnose it clearly.
- Physical Examination: The doctor will clinically check the affected area. As there is no lump present, it makes it harder to diagnose it clinically but the doctor will try to see if the similar symptoms are present.
- Imaging Test: A breast ultrasound uses high magnetic waves that helps in getting a clear picture of the tissues and lymph nodes around the breast. It helps in checking if the cancer has spread to other surrounding tissues.
A mammogram is a type of X-ray that uses low energy to get a clear image of the inside of the breast. It helps in detecting any sign of breast cancer. It also uses low-dose X-ray from different sides of the breast.
In these tests, the breast infection and inflammatory breast cancer’s appearances are very similar, which makes it harder to differentiate.
- Biopsy: To confirm the diagnosis, a biopsy is preferred. A small piece of tissue is scraped out of the breast, and if the tissue is little deep then anesthesia might be given to numb the area. Once the sample is collected, it is sent to the laboratory where it is checked if its the cancer or not.
How Is Inflammatory Breast Cancer Treated?
Inflammatory breast cancer is treated through different treatment options such as:
- Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy kills the cancer cells or reduces the size of the tumor. Chemotherapy can be given in two ways, either through pills or intravenously (IV).
- Surgery: Once the chemotherapy is done, the size of cancer reduces that makes it easy to remove the affected lymph nodes and the tumor.
- Radiation Therapy: To reduce the risk of cancer, reoccurring radiation therapy is done. The remaining cancer cells are killed or destroyed by using high frequency radiation on them directly. However in few cases targeted therapy or hormone therapy may be prescribed. In targeted therapy a particular gene that leads to cell growth is targeted directly. In hormone therapy there are some cancer cells that have hormone receptors that increase the growth of cancer in estrogen and progesterone.
Conclusion
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare condition that aggravates slowly and if not diagnosed and treated on time can spread to different parts of the body and cause complications. The symptoms may look like of breast infection but imaging and biopsy can help diagnose clearly. It is necessary to start the treatment immediately as it will avoid any sort of risk. Chemotherapy, surgery, and then radiation therapy is the best treatment option that not only removes the cancer cells but also reduces the chance of its reoccurrence. Still, it is advised to visit the doctor frequently and get the tests done to be sure that the cancer has not occurred again. This will help in living a healthy and a long life.
