Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsCauses/Risk FactorsDiagnosisTreatmentRecurrence
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Causes/Risk Factors
Diagnosis
Treatment
Recurrence
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an uncommon and aggressive type of breast cancer. It can cause the breast to appear red and swollen, giving the appearance of inflammation. In the United States, diagnoses of IBC accounts for 1% to 5% of all breast cancer cases.
Compared to othertypes of breast cancer, IBC tends to strike younger women and is more common in Black women than White women. It’s a rare diagnosis in males.IBC is often mistaken for other conditions. It’s important to talk with a healthcare provider if you experience symptoms.
IBC is a fast-growing cancer that can block lymph and blood vessels in the breast. As a result, symptoms develop quickly, sometimes over weeks or months. IBC may or may not contain a solid tumor that you can feel.
The symptoms can be similar to those of other conditions, so it’s essential to watch for physical changes and describe them to your healthcare provider. Common symptoms of IBC include:
With IBC, many people may first think they have a benign skin rash such aseczemaor a breast infection such as mastitis.IBC may not show up on a mammogram, although there are some markers, such as an increased number of microcalcifications (small calcium deposits) when compared with other breast cancer types.
Causes and Risk Factors
Researchers aren’t sure what causes IBC specifically, but some risk factors have been identified, including:
IBC can be challenging to identify, but there is a set of criteria to help healthcare providers reach a diagnosis, such as:
Genetic changes are often used in assessing cancer. A study at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute compared genetic changes in IBC with other breast cancers. It finds that different markers aren’t really present overall, with the possible exception ofTP53changes more common in IBC.
TheTP53mutation occurred in 72% of the 140 IBC cases included in the study of 2,457 metastatic (advanced) breast cancers. More research is needed to confirm and understand the results.
Breast Exam
If your breast skin is ridged, pitted, bumpy, or resembles an orange peel, that will also be noted.Your healthcare provider will also check the lymph nodes in your armpits.
Imaging Studies
After taking a careful medical history and doing a physical exam, your healthcare provider will likely order imaging studies or perform a breast biopsy to understand your symptoms further. These studies help diagnose IBC and help rule out conditions, such as mastitis, that can cause similar symptoms.
These tests include:
Biopsy
If a mass is noted, a breast biopsy may be performed. If a mass is not present, a skin biopsy will be done on the abnormal area of the affected breast.
There may be different approaches. For example, experts working in partnership with Susan G. Komen and the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation have proposed a point-based assessment. It would indicate a skin biopsy is needed at a certain point threshold, regardless of whether there’s a mass or not.
Staging
IBC does not always present with a lump like other cancers. Instead, it grows in sheets (sometimes called “nests”) and can spread through the body primarily via the lymphatic system. With IBC, the diagnosis itself means there’s beenmetastasis(spread) into other tissues.
As a result, IBC is classified either as stage 3 or stage 4, depending on how far it has spread in the body.Stage 3 cancers have spread to at least one lymph node but not to other body regions. Stage 4 cancer is similar to stage 3B, but the cancer has spread to distant body areas.
Inflammatory breast cancer is aggressive. Therefore, it is usually treated with a combination of therapies (sometimes called a “multimodal approach”) to reduce the risk of recurrence.These treatments include:
IBC is more aggressive than some forms of breast cancer and has a high rate of recurrence.If recurrence does occur, treatment is available and may include HER2-targeted therapies, chemotherapy, or hormonal therapy. In addition, other medicines may be available in clinical trials.
Recurrence is possible at any time, whether months after treatment or years down the road, including:
Healthcare providers cannot predict which tumors will result in a recurrence with certainty. After treatment, careful monitoring will continue.
IBC and Five-Year Survival Rates
Summary
Inflammatory breast cancer is an aggressive type with different symptoms than other breast cancers, including redness, rash, or dimpling. Once a biopsy and imaging are complete, IBC can be staged. Treatment for this type of breast cancer can include chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or targeted therapy. You may also need surgery and radiation to treat IBC.
Many clinical trials are looking into better treatment options for IBC. While treatment for IBC can be challenging, there are long-term IBC survivors and treatment options continue to evolve.
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11 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Cancer Institute.Inflammatory breast cancer.American Cancer Society.What Is Breast Cancer in Men?Bertucci F, Lerebours F, Ceccarelli M, Guille A, Syed N, Finetti P,et al.Mutational landscape of inflammatory breast cancer.J Transl Med. 2024 Apr 18;22(1):374. doi:10.1186/s12967-024-05198-4American Cancer Society.Inflammatory Breast Cancer.Barkana BD, Ahmad B, Essodegui F, Lembarki G, Pfeiffer R, Soliman AS,et al.Characterization of mammographic markers of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).Phys Med. 2025 Jan;129:104870. doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2024.104870Priedigkeit N, Harrison B, Shue R, Hughes M, Li Y, Kirkner GJ,et al.Clinicogenomic characterization of inflammatory breast cancer.bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 May 10:2024.05.07.592972. doi:10.1101/2024.05.07.592972Jagsi R, Mason G, Overmoyer BA, Woodward WA, Badve S, Schneider RJ,et al.Inflammatory breast cancer defined: proposed common diagnostic criteria to guide treatment and research.Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2022 Apr;192(2):235-243. doi:10.1007/s10549-021-06434-x.Steadman JA, Hieken TJ.Advances from targeted therapy for non-metastatic HER2-positive inflammatory breast cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2024 Sep;130(3):366-370. doi:10.1002/jso.27797U.S. National Library of Medicine.Study of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy in HER2-negative inflammatory breast cancer (PELICAN).University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer: 14 things to know.Moffitt Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer recurrence.
11 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Cancer Institute.Inflammatory breast cancer.American Cancer Society.What Is Breast Cancer in Men?Bertucci F, Lerebours F, Ceccarelli M, Guille A, Syed N, Finetti P,et al.Mutational landscape of inflammatory breast cancer.J Transl Med. 2024 Apr 18;22(1):374. doi:10.1186/s12967-024-05198-4American Cancer Society.Inflammatory Breast Cancer.Barkana BD, Ahmad B, Essodegui F, Lembarki G, Pfeiffer R, Soliman AS,et al.Characterization of mammographic markers of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).Phys Med. 2025 Jan;129:104870. doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2024.104870Priedigkeit N, Harrison B, Shue R, Hughes M, Li Y, Kirkner GJ,et al.Clinicogenomic characterization of inflammatory breast cancer.bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 May 10:2024.05.07.592972. doi:10.1101/2024.05.07.592972Jagsi R, Mason G, Overmoyer BA, Woodward WA, Badve S, Schneider RJ,et al.Inflammatory breast cancer defined: proposed common diagnostic criteria to guide treatment and research.Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2022 Apr;192(2):235-243. doi:10.1007/s10549-021-06434-x.Steadman JA, Hieken TJ.Advances from targeted therapy for non-metastatic HER2-positive inflammatory breast cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2024 Sep;130(3):366-370. doi:10.1002/jso.27797U.S. National Library of Medicine.Study of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy in HER2-negative inflammatory breast cancer (PELICAN).University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer: 14 things to know.Moffitt Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer recurrence.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Cancer Institute.Inflammatory breast cancer.American Cancer Society.What Is Breast Cancer in Men?Bertucci F, Lerebours F, Ceccarelli M, Guille A, Syed N, Finetti P,et al.Mutational landscape of inflammatory breast cancer.J Transl Med. 2024 Apr 18;22(1):374. doi:10.1186/s12967-024-05198-4American Cancer Society.Inflammatory Breast Cancer.Barkana BD, Ahmad B, Essodegui F, Lembarki G, Pfeiffer R, Soliman AS,et al.Characterization of mammographic markers of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).Phys Med. 2025 Jan;129:104870. doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2024.104870Priedigkeit N, Harrison B, Shue R, Hughes M, Li Y, Kirkner GJ,et al.Clinicogenomic characterization of inflammatory breast cancer.bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 May 10:2024.05.07.592972. doi:10.1101/2024.05.07.592972Jagsi R, Mason G, Overmoyer BA, Woodward WA, Badve S, Schneider RJ,et al.Inflammatory breast cancer defined: proposed common diagnostic criteria to guide treatment and research.Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2022 Apr;192(2):235-243. doi:10.1007/s10549-021-06434-x.Steadman JA, Hieken TJ.Advances from targeted therapy for non-metastatic HER2-positive inflammatory breast cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2024 Sep;130(3):366-370. doi:10.1002/jso.27797U.S. National Library of Medicine.Study of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy in HER2-negative inflammatory breast cancer (PELICAN).University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer: 14 things to know.Moffitt Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer recurrence.
National Cancer Institute.Inflammatory breast cancer.
American Cancer Society.What Is Breast Cancer in Men?
Bertucci F, Lerebours F, Ceccarelli M, Guille A, Syed N, Finetti P,et al.Mutational landscape of inflammatory breast cancer.J Transl Med. 2024 Apr 18;22(1):374. doi:10.1186/s12967-024-05198-4
American Cancer Society.Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
Barkana BD, Ahmad B, Essodegui F, Lembarki G, Pfeiffer R, Soliman AS,et al.Characterization of mammographic markers of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).Phys Med. 2025 Jan;129:104870. doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2024.104870
Priedigkeit N, Harrison B, Shue R, Hughes M, Li Y, Kirkner GJ,et al.Clinicogenomic characterization of inflammatory breast cancer.bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 May 10:2024.05.07.592972. doi:10.1101/2024.05.07.592972
Jagsi R, Mason G, Overmoyer BA, Woodward WA, Badve S, Schneider RJ,et al.Inflammatory breast cancer defined: proposed common diagnostic criteria to guide treatment and research.Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2022 Apr;192(2):235-243. doi:10.1007/s10549-021-06434-x.
Steadman JA, Hieken TJ.Advances from targeted therapy for non-metastatic HER2-positive inflammatory breast cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2024 Sep;130(3):366-370. doi:10.1002/jso.27797
U.S. National Library of Medicine.Study of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy in HER2-negative inflammatory breast cancer (PELICAN).
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer: 14 things to know.
Moffitt Cancer Center.Inflammatory breast cancer recurrence.
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