Home → Symptoms & Diagnosis → Types of Breast Cancer → Ask-the-Expert Conferences: Types of Breast Cancer → October 2006: Inflammatory Breast Cancer → Symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer?

Symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer?

Page last modified on: October 13, 2008

Question from Dale: I am unsure if I have IBC. I am a 42-year-old female whose right breast inflames, turns red, and has a burning sensation. It has felt "tight," and increasingly so for the past two and a half years. Now the sensations have wrapped around my right upper body, and military doctors refuse to give me an incisional biopsy since nothing shows on mammogram and ultrasound. I was given Zithromax, but it did not help. Could this be IBC?: Answers —Thomas Buchholz, M.D.: With those symptoms, you should be seen and examined by an experienced breast physician. If you've had the symptoms for over two years, this is unlikely to be IBC. It's difficult to make a judgment in this type of setting. So I'd recommend you be carefully examined, because as you may be aware, sometimes breast cancer is not picked up with mammography.; Gabriel Hortobagyi, M.D., F.A.C.P.: It is definitely not inflammatory breast cancer because by definition, inflammatory breast cancer is a rapidly progressing disease. Whether you have breast cancer or not is a different question, and so you do need to be screened and examined. Untreated inflammatory breast cancer has a survival of about a year to a year and a half, so the fact that you have had symptoms for two and a half years to me excludes this diagnosis.

On Wednesday, October 18, 2006, our Ask-the-Expert Online Conference was called Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Gabriel Hortobagyi, M.D., Thomas Buchholz, M.D., and moderator Jennifer Sabol, M.D. answered your questions about inflammatory breast cancer, a rare but aggressive form of breast cancer.

The materials presented in these conferences do not necessarily reflect the views of breastcancer.org. A qualified healthcare professional should be consulted before using any therapeutic product or regimen discussed. All readers should verify all information and data before employing any therapies described here.

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Meet the Experts

Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, M.D., F.A.C.P. chairs the department of breast medical oncology and directs the Breast Cancer Research Program at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where he also serves as professor of medicine and holds the Nellie B. Connally Chair in Breast Cancer.

Thomas A. Buchholz, M.D. is professor of radiation oncology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Buchholz' research includes the role of radiation treatment in preventing breast cancer recurrence and whether certain genes may be able to predict how breast cancer responds to treatment.

Jennifer Sabol, M.D., F.A.C.S. is a breast surgeon who directs the newly developed Breast Care Center at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pa. Among her many interests, Dr. Sabol spearheads several research initiatives to advance the care for women with breast cancer and improve methods of breast cancer detection and treatment.