Contents:
- Medical Video: How to recognize inflammatory breast cancer symptoms
- Life expectancy of inflammatory breast cancer
- The latest from the study of inflammatory breast cancer
Medical Video: How to recognize inflammatory breast cancer symptoms
Inflammatory breast cancer causes symptoms that are often different from general breast cancer. This condition often does not cause lumps in the breast, and may not be seen on a mammogram. Because this doesn't look like breast cancer in general, it can be more difficult to diagnose. Inflammatory breast cancer tends to appear at a younger age than other breast cancers (average age of 52 years vs. 57 years for non-inflammatory breast cancer). This also generally tends to occur in women who are overweight and obese.
Inflammation of inflammatory cancers also tends to be more aggressive (growing and spreading faster) than most types of breast cancer. Based on the stage of the cancer, inflammatory breast cancer has never been in the early stages. Always at least in stage IIIB when first diagnosed because breast cancer cells grow into the skin. Often, this cancer has spread to distant parts of the body when diagnosed, making it in stage IV. The high rate of inflammatory breast cancer, together with its possibility to grow and spread rapidly, makes it difficult to treat than most other types of breast cancer.
Life expectancy of inflammatory breast cancer
Life expectancy is often used by doctors as a standard in discussing a person's prognosis. Some cancer patients may want to know the level of safety statistics of other people who have the same fate, while others may not feel the number will help, or even don't want to know it. If you decide not to know, stop reading and skip to the next section.
"Median survival" is the time period for half the number of patients who die. It is important to remember that this is only the average used by researchers. Many people have better results than these predictions. People with inflammatory breast cancer can also die of other things, so this number cannot be considered certain.
This survival rate is determined based on a person's diagnosis many years ago. The development of treatment from the past until now has been able to produce promising results for patients with inflammatory breast cancer.
Survival rates are often based on previous results from people who have had this disease, but cannot predict what will happen in each case. Many other factors can affect a person's survival, such as age, overall health, treatment received, and how the cancer responds to treatment. Your doctor can tell you how the number is applied to you, because the doctor is familiar with your situation.
The latest from the study of inflammatory breast cancer
Because inflammatory breast cancer is rare, it is difficult for researchers to find women who can be the object of research and learn the best treatments for it. But there are some recent advances in understanding and treating inflammatory breast cancer.
Research has shown for decades that inflammatory breast cancer is more common, while other forms of breast cancer are reduced. Researchers aren't sure why this can happen.
Research comparing DNA and other molecules from inflammatory breast cancer with the usual type of breast cancer has shown some important differences. Scientists believe that some of these differences explain the unique and aggressive ways of spreading and growing inflammatory breast cancer. They hope that understanding these differences will lead to more effective treatments and focus on specific molecules of inflammatory breast cancer.
Clinical research over the past few decades has shown how doctors modify the usual treatment of breast cancer (chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy, and surgery) so that it is appropriate for women with inflammatory breast cancer. For example, research has shown the benefits of using chemotherapy as the first treatment before surgery or radiation.
