Can i survive ibc

Lymph node status Most women with IBC have lymph node-positive breast cancer when they are diagnosed [ ]. Learn about clinical trials for IBC. Neoadjuvant before surgery therapy The first treatment for IBC is neoadjuvant chemotherapy , usually with an anthracycline-based chemotherapy and a taxane-based chemotherapy.

Surgery and radiation therapy Surgery for IBC is almost always a mastectomy with an axillary dissection. Surgery is followed by radiation therapy. Almost all women with IBC will need radiation therapy. Breast reconstruction With IBC, breast reconstruction is usually done after radiation therapy is completed, rather than at the same time as the mastectomy. Chemotherapy, hormone therapy and HER2-targeted therapy Treatments after surgery and radiation therapy depend on prior treatment and tumor characteristics [ 7 ]: If chemotherapy was not completed before surgery, the remaining chemotherapy is given after surgery.

Hormone receptor-positive IBC is treated with hormone therapy. Under study Treatments after neoadjuvant therapy for women with IBC who still have cancer in the breast at the time of surgery are under study. Questions for Your Health Care Provider. Will a sentinel node biopsy be done?

How will the status of my lymph nodes affect my treatment plan? Is my tumor hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor-negative? How does this affect my treatment plan? What are my treatment options?

Which treatments do you recommend for me and why? Should I get chemotherapy or hormone therapy before breast surgery? Will I need more treatment after my surgery?

How long do I have to make treatment decisions? Is there a clinical trial I can join? Can I have a lumpectomy breast conserving surgery plus radiation therapy? If I am having a mastectomy, will I need to have radiation therapy? How will that decision be made?

When will I meet with a radiation oncologist to discuss radiation therapy? Can breast reconstruction be done at the time of the surgery, as well as later? How much later can it be done? Can you refer me to a plastic surgeon? If I choose not to have reconstruction, what types of prostheses are available? Where can I find them? Will my insurance cover the cost?

Will you give me a copy of my pathology report and other test results? What should I consider before treatment begins if I would like to have a child after being treated for breast cancer? What is my follow-up care? Which health care provider is in charge of this care?

Who can talk with me about the cost of my treatment including the expenses covered by my insurance and the costs I should expect to pay out-of-pocket? Will part of my tumor be saved?

Where will it be stored? For how long? How can it be accessed it in the future? This treatment plan includes chemotherapy as a first step, followed by surgery and radiation. The purpose of preoperative chemotherapy is to make the breast suitable for surgery by killing the tumor within the skin, breast and lymph nodes.

Once the maximum amount of tumor is treated, then the breast and lymph nodes can be safely removed by surgery. A: Many patients question if there was anything they could have done to catch their diagnosis earlier. IBC is only found after the disease has progressed to stage 3 or stage 4. It is diagnosed at a locally advanced stage stage 3 , because the breast cancer cells have grown into the skin and immediately involve the entire breast and lymph nodes.

Cancer that has attached to organs outside the breast and nearby lymph nodes is classified as stage 4. About one third of patients with IBC will present with stage 4 disease. The exact reason why IBC advances so quickly is unknown. Learn more about breast cancer staging. A: Due to the skin involvement with IBC, it is recommended that patients wait at least six months after completing radiation before beginning reconstruction.

This is known as delayed reconstruction. Immediate reconstruction at the time of mastectomy requires a procedure that spares the skin of the breast, and the optimal treatment for IBC is to remove as much skin as possible at the time of mastectomy. For IBC patients seeking breast reconstruction, autologous reconstruction methods — methods that use your own tissue, such as the DIEP flap or the TRAM flap — are recommended over implant-based methods.

While implant-based methods might sound like a more appealing strategy, it is often not the best option for IBC patients due to skin damage from the intensive radiation needed to treat their cancer.

In addition, implant-based methods require the placement of a skin expander at the time of mastectomy and, coupled with the issue of "skin sparing", the presence of an implant can compromise the radiation plan. This is particularly important for IBC patients since radiation is critical for treating the skin of the chest wall and reducing the chance of a local or regional recurrence of cancer.

A: Many people wonder if the removal of the contralateral breast, meaning the removal of the other, cancer-free breast, is something they should consider after their treatment.

This is a very personal decision that you should discuss with your treatment team. Currently, there is no data to suggest that there is a survival benefit to a contralateral prophylactic mastectomy. You will also read general information on surviving the disease. Remember, survival rates depend on several factors. Use the menu to see other pages. The disease typically occurs in women younger than Black women seem to have a higher risk of inflammatory breast cancer than white women.

Inflammatory breast cancer can also occur in men. Men are typically older when they are diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer when compared with women. Because inflammatory breast cancer can grow and spread quickly, this cancer often spreads to the lymph nodes around the breast. This means it is usually at a locally advanced stage when it is first diagnosed since the breast cancer cells have grown into the skin. For about 1 out of 3 people with inflammatory breast cancer, the cancer has already spread to distant parts of the body when first diagnosed.

The 5-year survival rate tells you what percent of people live at least 5 years after the cancer is found. Percent means how many out of