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Inflammatory breast cancer: A decade of experience
Author(s) -
Do Nascimento Vinicius C,
Rajan Ruben,
Redfern Andrew,
Saunders Christobel
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asia‐pacific journal of clinical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1743-7563
pISSN - 1743-7555
DOI - 10.1111/ajco.12459
Subject(s) - medicine , pathological , breast cancer , inflammatory breast cancer , radiological weapon , disease , retrospective cohort study , oncology , cancer , surgery
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an aggressive and rare form of breast cancer. At present, there are no established diagnostic, radiological, pathological or molecular diagnostic criteria for this entity. The aim of this study was to examine the patterns of presentation, treatment and outcomes of IBC in this institution over the course of a decade. This is a retrospective observational study using data from the Royal Perth Hospital from January 2001 to December 2010. Our results identified 57 women with IBC, representing 1.9% of all new breast cancer presentations. Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)‐positive and triple negative tumors were overrepresented (41% and 18%, respectively). Forty‐four (77%) patients had early disease at diagnosis, of whom 35 underwent surgery and 16 are relapse‐free. All six patients achieving complete pathological response were relapse‐free in contrast to 11 (38%) with lesser responses at a median follow‐up of 59 months. Median survival in 13 patients with metastatic disease at diagnosis was 21.7 months, with two patients still in remission. Clearly, this small but important group continues to offer management challenges and warrants ongoing study, including better molecular and pathological profiling of tumors to allow improved diagnostic clarity and more effective targeted therapy.