Inflammatory Breast Cancer Warning Signs!

Breast Cancer is the second most common type of cancer after cancer of the lungs. We don’t know why but Breast Cancer is like an epidemic amongst women. Another important thing to note is that breast cancer can affect men also. Against every 100 women, one man is diagnosed with it. Women less than 20 are less like to get breast cancer as compared to someone over 45. It can happen at any age so it becomes all the more important for women to get themselves checked against Breast cancer regularly.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer is a unique type of cancer and its not very common. In Inflammatory Breast Cancer doesn’t develop lump in the breast, which makes diagnoses rather difficult. Mammograms cannot detect it so easily. The skin and lymph vessels of the breast get infiltrated in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. As inflammatory breast cancer cells block lymph vessels, the breasts become swollen, red and feel slightly warm. Other symptoms may include presence of enlarged lymph nodes under the arm or above the collarbone on the side that is affected.

Typical signs of Inflammatory Breast Cancer includes: Pinkness in breast, one breast larger than the other, swelling, rash, skin feels warm, pain – itchiness, thickened areas of breast, discharge from nipples, swollen lymph nodes under the armpit, occasionally swollen lymph nodes of the neck, inverted or flattened appearance of nipples.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer grows at a fast pace and needs to be treated aggressively. It is diagnosed by biopsy and clinical judgments. It’s treated with the combination of Local as well as Total treatment. The regular sequence of treatment starts with chemotherapy – which is a systemic treatment, followed by surgery and radiation therapy – which are local treatments. These two are often followed by another round of chemotherapy with hormone treatments to set things in order.

40% of the people getting treated for Inflammatory Breast Cancer survive for 5 years. It is low because of wrong treatment, not being able to detect cancer at the right time. Not starting with the right course of medication and so on.

Women should make sure they are visiting doctor regularly for breast check up. There may sometimes be signs like lump in the breast but in case of inflammatory cancer there are no signs or they start to show after it’s late. By visiting doctor regularly one can diagnose it when its just starting and treatment at that stage is that much less easier with better chances of survival and much less painful for the victim and the family both.