IBC, Inflammatory Breast Cancer is not like other kinds of breast cancer. It is insidious and often extremely difficult to diagnose. There is rarely a tumor associated with IBC, rather the cancer may not be diagnosed until it has become metastasized. In addition, a regular mammogram often does not provide the clues to identify it. In many cases an Inflammatory Breast Cancer prognosis can be difficult to pinpoint.
IBC is considered a Stage IIIB breast cancer and, when diagnosed, is treated aggressively. This cancer has some physical characteristics that will most likely be noticed by the patient before it is noticed by other people. This cancer causes an higher flow of blood, build-up of white cells, and blocked lymph vessels by cancer cells. This causes redness, warmth, and swelling in the affected breast.
It has recently been found that some breast cancer diagnoses have some IBC involvement. Although the cancer is very rare, it is one of the most deadly types of cancer and most difficult to treat without aggressive measures. In some cases there will be a breast denseness when a mammogram is done. This denseness can be identified if the current mammogram is compared to a previous mammogram. IBC occurs most often at about age 50 and grows more quickly than other breast cancers.
When a person is diagnosed with IBC their prognosis will vary based on many factors. The earlier that the cancer is diagnosed and treated, the more positive the prognosis is and greater the survival rate. Of the women diagnosed and treated aggressively, about half have a five or more year survival rate. Nearly one-third of the women diagnosed and treated are alive 20 years after the diagnosis. The average survival rate is based on the number of patients diagnosed with IBC not all breast cancers. And, remember, when diagnosed and treated early, the prognosis is significantly raised.
As soon as it is diagnosed an aggressive treatment plan is scheduled. The prognosis for survival of IBC is directly attributed to aggressive cancer treatment. When diagnosed and treated early, about half of the women with IBC survive 5 years or more. Nearly one-third of women are alive twenty years after they have been diagnosed.
Physicians monitor their patients carefully after treatment. The likelihood for reoccurrence is very high during the first three years after being treated. After an aggressive treatment program of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation treatments, the physician will follow-up on a regular basis to make sure there is no reoccurrence. For several years, IBC was thought to be so rare that it was not aggressively studied. However, in the last few years, it has been included in cancers of the breast that are being studied and great strides have been made in positive prognosis after treatment.
The statistics for IBC are not set in stone and as a survivor of cancer, it is important to maintain a positive attitude and enter treatment aggressively with a determination to win. Treatment has different affects on people and working with your health professional closely will be important. In addition, joining a support group made up of cancer survivors will help you to keep your treatment in perspective and will help you to ask the right questions at each step of your treatment.
It is very helpful to make a list of questions after diagnosis. Meeting with the health professionals who will be setting up the treatment program can be overwhelming and having questions written down will help you to get all of your questions answered. The Inflammatory Breast Cancer prognosis varies and it will be much more important to focus on the positive treatment results you will enjoy than the statistics about this cancer.
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categories: breast cancer,cancer,female health