Inflammatory Breast Cancer

The hallmarks of inflammatory breast cancer include warmth, edema, and erythema encompassing more than half of her breast.

Although inflammatory breast cancer is largely a clinical diagnosis, a skin punch biopsy revealing dermal lymphatic invasion confirms the diagnosis even in the absence of any obvious breast mass.

The standard treatment at this time involves neoadjuvant chemotherapy, modified radical mastectomy followed by postmastectomy radiation therapy.

Additional adjuvant systemic therapy is also administered based on the characteristics of the cancer (hormone receptor positive disease will receive hormonal therapy and HER2(+) disease anti-HER2-based therapy.

References

Sabiston Textbook of Surgery: The Biological Basis of Modern Surgical Practice, 20th ed. Ch. 34: Diseases of the Breast.

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