Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) only makes up about one to four percent of all breast cancers diagnosed. It has been known to be the most aggressive and deadly breast cancer diagnosis to receive. A clinical trial, reported in the journal Cancer, tells of researchers from France who focused their study on women with IBC who were treated with a high dose chemotherapy regimen.

There are very few studies focusing on IBC that have a ten year follow up. Large clinical trials and long term results for this disease are unusual. The trial evaluated 120 women with IBC who were treated with induction therapy followed by surgery. The chemotherapy treatment regimen consisted of fluorouracil (5-FU), Ellence (epirubicin) and cytoxan (cyclophosphamide), with or without Granocyte (lenograstim).

At ten years follow up, cancer free survival was nearly 36 percent and overall survival was almost 42 percent. These numbers may still seem too low for my liking but they are encouraging because they show that improvements in treating this disease are working and more women are surviving. The prognosis is not as grim as it once was for inflammatory breast cancer. This is good news!

Receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer is devastating enough, then to find out you have one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer is even more frightening.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I had never heard of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). What is shocking to me now is the fact that I have come in contact with many breast cancer survivors who are not aware of inflammatory breast cancer. This leads me to believe that if some breast cancer survivors don't know about IBC then the general public probably doesn't know much about it either.

IBC is a rare form of breast cancer. Breast cancer is not just one disease, there are many different types. I was diagnosed with one of the more common types called invasive ductal carcinoma. It wasn't so common however that I was diagnosed at the age of 31.

Only about one percent to four percent of newly diagnosed breast cancers will be inflammatory breast cancer. The scariest thing is the fact that IBC is often mistaken for a breast infection which can delay diagnosis of the disease.

When we posted TV news story internet video on IBC gets 10 million hits, I did not realize how little information we have provided here at The Cancer Blog regarding this relatively rare and very aggressive form of breast cancer that accounts for one to four percent of breast cancer diagnosis. To raise awareness for a type of breast cancer most women are not familiar with, I have put together basic facts about IBC as well as IBC support and resources.

Symptoms of IBC can be:

• A warm swollen breast that does not change through the menstrual cycle or respond to antibiotics.
• Skin which is red or appears dimpled like an orange.
• Itching or pain in the breast.
• A nipple which is flattened or inverted, possibly with a discharge.
• Swollen lymph nodes under the arm or above the collarbone.
  

Some of the IBC online foundations and support groups are as follows:

It's the global power of the internet and the phenomenon of social news -- of friends telling friends, and communities of friends telling other communities of friends -- by emailing a link to an interesting news story, that created a news story all its own. According to KOMO 4 News in Seattle, on May 7, a television news story they aired featuring a report on inflammatory breast cancer, IBC, a fairly rare type of breast cancer, has received over 10 million hits in the weeks since they put the six-minute video of the news segment on their website. IBC support groups have been receiving many more calls than usual from people wanting more information since the news video was made available online. To read reporter Michelle Esteban's Silent Killer news feature and watch the video, go here.