What is the best systemic treatment for newly diagnosed inflammatory breast cancer?-a narrative review

Abstract

Objective: The propose of this review to discuss of the systemic treatment options for newly diagnosed inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) including the recent data of immune checkpoint inhibitor, CDK4/6 inhibitor and anti-HER2 therapy. Aim to provide a pragmatic treatment in a gray area or concerning issues of real-world practice.

Background: IBC is a rare and aggressive disease. Upfront systemic treatment followed by surgery and radiation therapy or "Tri-modality" treatment is a standard of care for newly diagnosed IBC. Due to its rarity, the data of systemic treatment for IBC has been extrapolated mostly from non-IBC clinical trials.

Methods: We summarized the recent data of systemic treatment stratified by concerning topics and breast cancer subtypes. Some topics are less likely to have strong data from IBC clinical trial to supports. Therefore, we interpolate the non-IBC data to support our review.

Conclusions: IBC is challenging in the clinical management. The development of novel systemic treatment is urgently needed, especially for IBC-specific clinical trials.

Keywords: CDK4/6 inhibitor; Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC); anti-HER2 therapy; immunotherapy.