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
. 2015 Feb;15(1):1-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.clbc.2014.05.005. Epub 2014 Jun 23.

Inflammatory breast cancer management in the national comprehensive cancer network: the disease, recurrence pattern, and outcome

Jennifer M Matro  1 , Tianyu Li  2 , Massimo Cristofanilli  3 , Melissa E Hughes  4 , Rebecca A Ottesen  5 , Jane C Weeks  4 , Yu-Ning Wong  2
Affiliations

Inflammatory breast cancer management in the national comprehensive cancer network: the disease, recurrence pattern, and outcome

Jennifer M Matro et al. Clin Breast Cancer. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an uncommon clinicopathologic entity characterized by rapid progression and aggressive behavior. We used the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Outcomes Database to characterize recurrence patterns and outcomes.

Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed IBC treated between 1999 and 2009 at 12 NCCN institutions were identified, and baseline characteristics were obtained. Patients had multimodality therapy if they received 2 of 3 treatments: surgery, perioperative (neoadjuvant or adjuvant) chemotherapy, or perioperative radiation. The first site of recurrence/metastatic diagnosis was identified. Overall survival was calculated on the basis of stage at diagnosis and receipt of multimodality therapy.

Results: We identified 673 patients, of whom 195 (29%) had metastatic disease at presentation. Median follow-up was 29 months. Of patients in stage III, 82% received > 1 treatment modality. Among 203 patients in stage III with recurrence, the most frequent sites of first recurrence were bone (28%), central nervous system (CNS), lung, and liver (all 21%). Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive and triple negative subtypes had higher rates of CNS recurrence (P = .001). Median survival was 66 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 54-107) for stage III and 26 months (95% CI, 22-33) for stage IV. Among 82% of patients in stage III receiving multimodality therapy, the median survival was 107 months (95% CI, 71 to not reached).

Conclusions: This large, retrospective, multi-institutional study confirms the aggressive clinical features, unique recurrence patterns, and adverse prognosis of IBC. The high rate of CNS recurrence among high-risk subtypes, despite the inflammatory nature of the breast cancer, suggests that new strategies are needed for earlier detection or prevention of brain metastases to improve long-term prognosis.

Keywords: Brain metastases; Inflammatory breast cancer; Metastatic breast cancer; Multimodality therapy; Triple negative breast cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Hance KW, Anderson WF, Devesa SS, Young HA, Levine PH. Trends in inflammatory breast carcinoma incidence and survival: the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program at the National Cancer Institute. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2005;97(13):966–975. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Levine PH, Steinhorn SC, Ries LG, Aron JL. Inflammatory breast cancer: the experience of the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) program. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 1985;74(2):291–297. - PubMed
    1. Robertson FM, Bondy M, Yang W, et al. Inflammatory breast cancer: the disease, the biology, the treatment. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians. 2010;60(6):351–375. - PubMed
    1. Wingo PA, Jamison PM, Young JL, Gargiullo P. Population-based statistics for women diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer (United States). Cancer Causes & Control. 2004;15(3):321–328. - PubMed
    1. Cristofanilli M, Valero V, Buzdar AU, et al. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and patterns of recurrence. Cancer. 2007;110(7):1436–1444. - PubMed

Publication types