Many Women Unaware Of Inflammatory Breast Cancer

[Amy6627]

Many Women Unaware Of Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Link: http://www.loveandhope.com

The following report by medical editor Marilyn Brooks first aired July 7, 2006, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Women hear the drill early and often -- feel for lumps, get those mammograms, see your doctors.

We think we know enough about breast cancer to almost feel safe. The truth is there are actually five different forms of the disease.


One particular type is so difficult to detect that most women know little -- if anything -- about it.

It's called inflammatory breast cancer. It's a silent killer and we all need to know about it. Even though it's the most aggressive form of breast cancer, many doctors have never seen it. What you don't know about this disease can kill you.

Fidelia Marusak had never heard of it
Marusak, inflammatory breast cancer patient: "When it started leaking, that's when I started getting a little bit nervous."

Karen Gonzalez didn't know about it either.

Gonzalez, inflammatory breast cancer survivor: "I was getting dressed one morning and had noticed, about the length of your thumb, about the size of a half-moon in shape, a sunburn mark on the inside of my left breast."

What these two women didn't know could have killed them.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) accounts for about 5 percent of all invasive breast cancer cases. Most of its victims die because they had never heard of it and didn't know what to look for.

When it comes to breast cancer, women have been taught to examine breasts to feel for lumps and any changes or thickening in the skin or the size of the breast.

When it comes to inflammatory breast cancer, you can pretty much throw out much of what you've learne! d, because there are no lumps to feel.

Marusak, who was 5 5 at diagnosis, and Gonzalez, who was 38, never knew that. They never knew that IBC is the most aggressive of the five types of breast cancer and that it can't be detected with a mammogram in its early stages.

Marusak: "It just started getting bigger and bigger."

What she thought was a cyst was actually Stage III inflammatory breast cancer.

Gonzalez, now studying to become a nurse, saw her doctor immediately.

Gonzalez: "He examined me, couldn't find any lumps whatsoever, told me it was a black and blue mark that would probably go away in a matter of a couple of months."

She got three opinions -- all the same. But one doctor suggested a mammogram. That's how she discovered she had Stage III of a disease with very different symptoms than other breast cancers.

Symptoms include:

Redness, firmness, rapid increase in breast size.
Skin can often be hot to the touch.
Persistent i! tching.
An orange peel texture of the skin.
Thickening of breast tissue.
An inverted nipple.

IBC is not new. It's very old. Yet, in the 21st century, women are in the dark about it. I asked 20 women in downtown Pittsburgh about IBC, and only one of them knew it.

Dr. Jane Raymond, oncologist, Allegheny General Hospital: "I'm not surprised, because it tends to occur in women who are not supposed to have breast cancer anyway."

She means young women, usually under age 35, who haven't begun to get mammograms or sonograms.

But if there is a concern, don't be too quick to accept one doctor's opinion, cancer experts say.

Raymond: "I have had women who saw a physician who said, 'You're too young to have breast cancer, don't worry about it.'"

But they should worry, and insist on a mammogram. If it shows nothing, insist on an MRI -- especially if there is a lump, pain, redness or discha! rge.

A mammogram showing a typical breast tumor looks lik e a large white ball, the lump we all tend to look for.

Raymond: "Sometimes you'll have women with this firm, red breast, and you never do find a lump."

Inflammatory breast cancer invades the entire breast and clogs the breast tissue vessels, causing swelling and thickening of the skin.

You won't find that information in too many places. Even the American Cancer Society has just one tiny paragraph on its Web site.

Beth Laury, American Cancer Society: "We do discuss with women, we do have in our literature, a change in the breast is something you need to talk to your physician about."

The nation's largest and best-known cancer awareness group has a different attitude.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation has a lot of information about breast cancer. In fact, two decades of effort have pushed survival rates to 95 percent. But there is admittedly nothing specific about IBC.

Joann Meier, executiv! e director, Susan G. Komen Foundation: "As things change and evolve in this field, we have to move with it -- and this is something that really is serious."

There are the lucky ones -- women like Marusak. Two years after her diagnosis, she's still getting checkups. So far, so good.

Is she angry over the lack of information? No, but she says she does feel blessed.

Marusak: "I could not be here, and I am."

Gonzalez, an 11-year survivor, is not angry either. She's grateful she is alive to share her experience and knowledge with other women, so they will know what she did not.

Gonzalez: "I really do think it's been a blessing in disguise."

There is a lot to learn about inflammatory breast cancer. Take the time to learn it. The best way to detect IBC is to know the warning signs and insist on an MRI or biopsy.




Link: http://www.loveandhope.com

[wicket]

1. Thank-you for posting this

:kick:

[Ilsa]

2. Blessings on you, Amy!

Generally, if there is a change, it is important to see your physician, and probably get multiple opinions if your gut instinct tells you they are off.

Regular mammograms are so important!

[Warpy]

3. Orange peel skin and inverted nipples are on every guide

for breast self examination that I've ever seen. They're quite specific and obvious changes that need to be checked out quickly.

[napi21]

4. WOW, I never heard of it before now. Thanks n/t