What is Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
Inflammatory breast cancer is an underlying condition wherein cancer cells infiltrate the skin and lymph vessels of the breast and tends to grow aggressively. The patient shall notice no distinct lump or tumor, but when the lymph vessels get blocked by the breast cancer cells, the symptoms start to surface.
Causes and Symptoms of Inflammatory Breast Cancer Some of the risk factors associated with IBC are: 1. Age- Usually, inflammatory breast cancer is seen in women between 40-50 years. 2. Race- Survey and research have revealed that black women tend to have a higher chance of developing this condition. 3. Obesity- Women with obesity are more likely to get this disease than women with normal weight. Symptoms • • • • •
Swelling and redness on the breast skin Thickening and peeling of breast skin An inverted nipple Painful, itchy and heavy breast Swollen lymph nodes under the arm Inflammatory breast cancer is also classified as Stage 3 breast cancer, and it is diagnosed with a biopsy after the symptoms have appeared.
Treatment Procedures •
Chemotherapy- Also considered as systematic therapy, chemotherapy uses drugs that travel through the bloodstream to various parts of the body and destroy the cancer cells.
Some women receive chemotherapy before surgery to shrink the tumor. In some cases, it is also prescribed in combination with targeted therapy. •
Hormonal Therapy- If your cancer is hormone-receptor-positive, this can be helpful. The objective is to block the hormones from binding with the cancer cells to help them grow and spread.
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Radiation Therapy- Utilizing high-power energy beams like X-rays and protons, the remaining cancer cells are destroyed after surgery.
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Surgery- Mastectomy is opted to remove all the breast tissues, including the nipple and areolas. Other than that, axillary dissection will help to remove the lymph nodes under the arms.
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Targeted Therapy- Here, drugs help target specific abnormalities within the cancer cells, such as the EGFR protein that allows cancer to grow.
Medications for treating IBC •
Capecitabine- It is an oral chemotherapy drug that is absorbed in the bloodstream through the digestive system to interfere with the growth of the cancer cells. Capecitabine 500 mg, after consumption, converts into 5 Fluorouracil or 5FU, another chemotherapy drug that attacks the cancer cells and does not affect the normal ones.
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Trastuzumab- If your cancer is HER2 positive type, Trastuzumab can be helpful in treating the condition. It is used to conduct targeted drug therapy that has seen to be effective in case of aggressively growing inflammatory breast cancer. Trastuzumab 440 mg attaches itself to the HER2 protein so that the cancer cells are no longer stimulated to grow.
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Lapatinib- To conduct targeted or biological therapy against IBC, Lapatinib 250 mg is prescribed. It has been categorized as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor and can be given alone or in combination with Capecitabine or other chemotherapy drugs. Conclusion It is always not possible to survive IBC, even with the most advanced treatment. The goal is to help the person live as long as possible as well as get relief from the symptoms. Palliative care is also quite helpful in this regard.
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