Inflammatory breast cancer (also known as inflammatory breast carcinoma) is unique and not very common type of breast cancer. It can occur in women and extremely rare cases also in men. Inflammatory breast cancer is different because often it doesn't produce a lump in a breast and therefore it is more difficult to discover it by mammography or ultrasound. The breasts appearance is similar to other inflammatory conditions such as cellulites or mastitis. Possible symptoms are also enlarged lymph nodes under the arm or above the collar bone on the affected side.
Usually inflammatory breast cancer grows extremely fast and requires aggressive treatment. Because of the fast growth, most oncologists recommend both types of treatment (local and systematic). However, inflammatory breast cancer is treated differently than other types of breast cancer because chemotherapy is used prior the surgery.
Inflammatory breast cancer has been diagnosed among very young men and women (people in their twenties or thirties). This type of breast cancer is often misdiagnosed because it is mixed up with mastitis (quite harmless breast infestion). Because of that similarity, sometimes by the time of a diagnosis, it has already spread or has developed in to a late phase of a cancer.
If symptoms do not disappear in one week, a biopsy should be performed.
