Treatment
IBC's advanced stage and rapid progression make it harder to treat than most forms of breast cancer. Doctors believe a multimodal approach using a combination of treatments is the most effective way to treat the disease. Inflammatory breast cancer patients usually undergo both neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy to increase the odds of eliminating the cancer and preventing it from returning.
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Neoadjuvant therapy
Neoadjuvant therapy is any treatment given before surgery. Women with IBC may receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy with targeted therapy or immunotherapy to shrink the tumor before having it surgically removed.
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Adjuvant therapy
Adjuvant therapy is any treatment given after surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence and increase long-term survival. Women with IBC may receive adjuvant radiation therapy or systemic therapy, anti-hormone therapy, immunotherapy, PARP inhibitor, or anti-HER2 therapy to eliminate any last traces of the cancer missed during surgery.
IBC is a highly aggressive form of breast cancer that develops and spreads very quickly. It is highly recommended that you visit a specialist who has experience with IBC and consider participating in clinical trials. Ongoing research by medical professionals has led to new treatments and approaches that have greatly improved the prognosis for patients with this disease.
Your doctor may recommend any of the following therapies and procedures as a part of your treatment plan for IBC:
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Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of cancer-killing drugs that enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body, destroying any cancer cells they encounter. It is injected into the vein (intravenously) for patients with IBC.
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Surgery
The standard surgery for IBC is a modified radical mastectomy. In this procedure, the surgeon removes the entire affected breast and most underarm lymph nodes. Unfortunately, since IBC usually does not form a tumor, doctors are not able to remove only the cancerous tissue.
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Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Doctors usually administer radiation therapy after surgery for IBC to kill any remaining cancer cells in the breast region.
Targeted therapy
About one in every four cases of breast cancer contains cells that overexpress the HER2 protein, which causes the cancer to grow more aggressively. This treatment specifically targets these cells, preventing the HER2 proteins from fueling cell growth.
PARP inhibitors work by preventing cancer cells from repairing, allowing them to die. PARP inhibitors preferentially kill cancer cells in BRCA-mutation over normal cells. Your physician may recommend a PARP inhibitor for maintenance therapy after initial therapy or for treatment of recurrence.
Immunotherapy
PDL1 is a protein that helps keep immune cells from attacking nonharmful cells in the body. Normally, the immune system fights foreign substances like viruses and bacteria, and not your own healthy cells. Some cancer cells have high amounts of PDL1. This allows the cancer cells to "trick" the immune system, and avoid being attacked as foreign, harmful substances.
If your cancer cells have a high amount of PDL1, you may benefit from a treatment called immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is a therapy that boosts your immune system to help it recognize and fight cancer cells. Immunotherapy has been shown to be very effective in treating certain types of breast cancers.
Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy is effective in treating women whose tumors have positive estrogen receptors. This treatment prevents the estrogen hormone from stimulating the growth of cancer cells.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials allow patients to try a new treatment before it is available to the general public. In some cases, this may be a new drug that has not been used in humans before, or it may be a drug or drug combination that is not currently used for that specific type of cancer. Early phase clinical trials are often used to test side effects of a drug or drug combination, while later phase clinical trials are used to see how effective a new treatment might be for a certain type of cancer. Clinical trials allow doctors and researchers to improve the treatment of cancers with possibly more effective therapies. A clinical trial may be a new, groundbreaking drug or it may have no effect. It is important to talk with your doctor about the pros and cons of clinical trials for your particular situation. However, ideally one should seek an Inflammatory Breast Cancer Specialist.
