Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2012;17(7):891-9.
doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2012-0039. Epub 2012 May 14.

Inflammatory breast cancer: what we know and what we need to learn

Hideko Yamauchi  1 , Wendy A Woodward, Vicente Valero, Ricardo H Alvarez, Anthony Lucci, Thomas A Buchholz, Takayuki Iwamoto, Savitri Krishnamurthy, Wei Yang, James M Reuben, Gabriel N Hortobágyi, Naoto T Ueno
Affiliations
Review

Inflammatory breast cancer: what we know and what we need to learn

Hideko Yamauchi et al. Oncologist. 2012.

Abstract

Purpose: We review the current status of multidisciplinary care for patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and discuss what further research is needed to advance the care of patients with this disease.

Design: We performed a comprehensive review of the English-language literature on IBC through computerized literature searches.

Results: Significant advances in imaging, including digital mammography, high-resolution ultrasonography with Doppler capabilities, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography-computed tomography, have improved the diagnosis and staging of IBC. There are currently no established molecular criteria for distinguishing IBC from noninflammatory breast cancer. Such criteria would be helpful for the diagnosis and development of novel targeted therapies. Combinations of neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy have led to an improved prognosis; however, the overall 5-year survival rate for patients with IBC remains very low (∼30%). Sentinel lymph node biopsy and skin-sparing mastectomy are not recommended for patients with IBC.

Conclusion: Optimal management of IBC requires close coordination among medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists, as well as radiologists and pathologists. There is a need to identify molecular changes that define the pathogenesis of IBC to enable eradication of IBC with the use of IBC-specific targeted therapies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: Gabriel N. Hortobágyi: Allergan, Genentech, Novartis, Sanofi (C/A), Novartis (RF); Naoto T. Ueno: Amgen, Celgene (RF). The other authors indicated no financial relationships.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Workup for inflammatory breast cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hance KW, Anderson WF, Devesa SS, et al. Trends in inflammatory breast carcinoma incidence and survival: The surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program at the National Cancer Institute. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2005;97:966–975. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Taylor G, Meltzer A. Inflammatory carcinoma of the breast. Am J Cancer. 1938;33:33–49.
    1. Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Hennessy BT, Broglio K, et al. Trends for inflammatory breast cancer: Is survival improving? The Oncologist. 2007;12:904–912. - PubMed
    1. Haaggensen C. Disease of the Breast. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders; 1971. Inflammatory Carcinoma; pp. 576–584.
    1. Ellis DL, Teitelbaum SL. Inflammatory carcinoma of the breast. A pathologic definition. Cancer. 1974;33:1045–1047. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms