How is Inflammatory Breast Cancer Treated?
Inflammatory breast cancer is an aggressive cancer that can grow and spread quickly. If the inflammatory cancer has not spread beyond the breast, a mastectomy (removal of the entire breast) may be performed to remove the tumor. However, because inflammatory breast cancer involves lymphatic vessels of the skin, mastectomy can increase the chances for the cancer to recur (since the skin is stitched together after mastectomy). Therefore, other treatment options (most commonly, chemotherapy) are usually considered before surgery. Chemotherapy is treatment with anti-cancer drugs. Chemotherapy is often administered to inflammatory breast cancer patients before local treatment (such as mastectomy or radiation). One common regimen of chemotherapy used to treat inflammatory breast cancer patients is CAF (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and fluorouracil). Researchers are also investigating whether high-dose chemotherapy is effective for treating inflammatory breast cancer. Because high dose chemo
