Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Learn the Symptoms of IBC, and Loosen Your Bra
Usually not detectable through mammograms and traditional self exams, this rare but aggressive cancer has clear signs of its presence that every woman should know.
While most women haven’t heard of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), the word is getting out. The disease tends to strike younger women, even girls barely past puberty. The average age of IBC patients is 52 years compared to 62 years for other forms of breast cancer. It’s usually found in advanced stages so treatment options are currently limited to the most aggressive forms of treatment. Even so, according to an article in The Oncologist, only 40% of IBC patients survive beyond 5 years.
What is it?
Basically IBC is like other breast cancers except that instead of forming lumps that can be felt in self-exams or seen in mammograms, IBC forms sheets or nests of cancer cells that aren’t apparent until inflammation sets in. When a woman first notices the swelling, pain and discoloration, the disease has already advanced to stage 3 or 4.
According to the IBC Research Foundation, IBC is currently only 1% - 6% of breast cancers in the United States, although African-American women are twice as likely to develop IBC as other races. The rate of IBC, while still low, has more than doubled in the last thirty years.
So should women panic?
No. But they should certainly know how to identify the signs of IBC. The inflammation occurs within days, the breast will grow rapidly in size and be more painful than normal. It may be discolored and the nipple may invert. IBC looks like mastitis and is often misdiagnosed. The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s website has a good description and photos of patients with IBC. The Mayo Clinic is another excellent resource. If a woman has symptoms of IBC she must avoid wishful thinking and immediately get an oncologist to determine whether she has a spider bite, mastitis or IBC.
What’s the cause?
Science hasn’t found a single cause, but the lymph and immune systems are involved. As with all cancers, a contributing factor is probably the body’s inability to cope with the onslaught of carcinogens that surround us daily in our air, food, and household products.
Some interesting research by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer found that women who wear bras more than 12 hours per day were 21 times more likely to develop breast cancer than women who wore bras less than 12 hours per day. Women who wore bras all day and night, even when sleeping, were 113 times more likely to develop breast cancer than women who wore bras less than 12 hours each day. They suggest that the increase in breast cancer is due to bras restricting the lymph system that flows through the breast. While not a “cause,” overuse of bras must be considered a contributing factor.
Conclusion
IBC is a serious, growing but still rare, form of cancer that women should be familiar with—and they should make sure that their friends and family are familiar with it. They should know what an IBC breast looks like and see an oncologist immediately if the symptoms appear. This is not a disease for which a woman can take a wait-and-see approach.
References:
- Cristophanilli, Budzar and Hortobagyi, "Update on the Management of Inflammatory Breast Cancer," The Oncologist, 2003;8:141-148.
- Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation website
- Singer and Grismaijer, Dressed to Kill: the link between breast cancer and bras, Avery Publishing Group, New York, 1995.
- The Mayo Clinic
