September 2006:
Number 509
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A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: September 10 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, campus correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Nick Young, photographer and layout
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Inflammatory breast cancer: Silent but deadly
By Sydney Portilla-Diggs
Campus Correspondent
According to The Breast Cancer Resource Center, more than 215,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year; one person is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes. One person dies of breast cancer every 14 minutes; people over the age of 50 account for 75 percent of breast cancer cases.
The Breast Cancer Institute states that women in the United States get breast cancer more than any other type of cancer except for skin cancer. Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in women.
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare cancer that accounts for less then 1 percent of all breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is an accelerated form of breast cancer, which is most dangerous because it is so easily misdiagnosed. It is not usually detected by mammogram or ultrasound.
Inflammatory breast cancer causes the breast to appear swollen and inflamed. The inflammation occurs because the cancer cells block the lymphatic vessels in the skin of the breast. This inflammation causes a blockage in lymph flow leading to the reddened, inflamed appearance to the breast. Unlike other breast cancers, IBC does not present itself as a lump, but as inflammation.
The symptoms a patient typically notices or feels include:
• Sudden swelling of a breast, which may look red, or feel itchy or warm
• Ridges or raised or pitted marks (like the appearance of an orange peel) on breast skin
• Nipple retraction or discharge and/or
• Swollen lymph nodes in the underarm or above the collarbone
According to the Mayo Clinic, signs and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include:
• A breast that appears red, purple, pink or bruised
• A tender, firm and enlarged breast
• Pain. Often inflammatory breast cancer is mistaken as a breast infection (mastitis) and treated with antibiotics. If response to antibiotics doesn’t occur after a week, request a breast biopsy or referral to a breast specialist.
• Thickened areas of skin
• Flattening or retraction of the nipple
• Swollen or crusted skin on the nipple
• Change in color of the skin around the nipple (areola)
• What appears to be a bruise that does not go away
While only 1-4 percent of newly diagnosed cases are IBC, 60-70 percent of all women with the disease do not live five years beyond their diagnosis. Inflammatory breast cancer is of particular concern because it progresses rapidly, and in most women it is already quite advanced before the symptoms become severe enough for them to seek medical attention. IBC was previously treated through surgery and was almost always fatal; nowadays, additional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy have greatly increased the chances of survival for IBC patients.
How is inflammatory breast cancer treated? Treatment options include:
• Surgery. If the inflammatory breast cancer has not spread beyond the breast, a mastectomy can be performed to remove the tumor. However, mastectomy has been known to increase the chance of recurrence because inflammatory breast cancer involves the lymph nodes of the skin - and the skin is stitched together after mastectomy. • Chemotherapy. This is often given before surgery to reduce the amount of tumor present and decrease the recurrence risk. • High Dose Chemotherapy/Bone Marrow Transplant. Researchers are studying whether giving high doses of chemotherapy, followed by bone marrow or stem cell transplantation is effective for treating inflammatory breast cancer.
• Radiation. Often radiation is given after chemotherapy and/or surgery Breast cancer occurs in men also, but the number of cases is small. Male breast cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the breast. Men at any age may develop breast cancer, but is usually found in men between 60 and 70 years of age. Male breast cancer makes up less than 1 percent of all cases of breast cancer.
The following types of breast cancer are found in men:
• Infiltrating ductal carcinoma: cancer that has spread beyond the cells lining ducts in the breast. Most men with breast cancer will have this type.
• Ductal carcinoma in situ: Abnormal cells that are found in the lining of a duct; also called intraductal carcinoma.
• Inflammatory breast cancer: A type of cancer in which the breast looks red and swollen and feels warm.
• Paget’s disease of the nipple: A tumor that has grown from ducts beneath the nipple onto the surface of the nipple.
The best course of action in the fight against cancer is education.
For more information regarding breast cancer, access the following websites: http://health.discovery.com/convergence/breasthealth/ibc/ibc.html ,
www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/IBC .
Or access Collin’s Wellness Program website at: http://iws2.ccccd.edu/ladams/ladams.htm .
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