? for my mom. Skin Met or Inflammatory breast cancer?

2barkley

My Mom had IDC last year and a mastectomy( all nodes affected and removed), chemo and radiation which ended last Christmas. In March she was suppose to be discharged from the cancer clinic here in BC but the oncologist felt another lump. It had formed just outside of the radiated area. This lump was removed in april but the oncologist said it was not good news as it came back so quickly. In may they were going to do some radiation to the area where the second lump was removed but the radiologist felt another suspicious area so she was referred back to her surgeon. The results of her punch biopsy were lost and so it took time to remove some of the confusion. She had bone and ct scans done which came back clear. In August, she developed a rash that was diagnosed at emergency as shingles but when we went to see her dr at the clinic, he said they were skin metastesis and there was not much to be done. They were aggressive and rapid. Her oncologist switched her medicine in August from A??? to Tamoxifen. He wants to give the tamoxifen more time to work before he decides what to do if anything.

I was really discouraged after this appointment and have done some research and discovered MD Anderson and Seattle both seem to have good IBC programs. My question, and I'm sorry for taking so long, is are skin mets the same as inflammatory breast cancer? He seemed to use both in our meeting and I'm a little confused. Thank you for any help.

Laura_Jean

As far as I know they are not the same. Ibc is a rare type of breast cancer. Md Anderson would be the place to check out if it is ibc; on the east coast fox chase cancer center specializes in ibc.



Best,



Laura jean

Lena

No, IBC and skin mets are not necessarily the same -- a person with, say IDC, can have skin mets too. But IBC is most likely to provide skin mets -- in IBC, the cancer cells are blocking the dermal lymphatics and growing in sheet/nests under the skin -- that's actually WHY it's IBC and not some other kind --  so with this kind of major skin involvement, skin mets are probably much more common in IBC than in IDC or ILC. And yes, IBC is aggressive and rapid.  

Sorry about your mom. I'm in the same boat she is sorta: I had a BMX and radiation treatment this year, and since about 2 weeks after I finished rads, this whole HUGE crop of skin mets sprung up on me like mushrooms in a rain, including some in the area where I was irradiated! :-P 

I hope your mom feels as good as she can.  

chester2010

I'm sorry to hear that your mum is going through so much.  It does sound as though you need a second opinion from someone more familiar with IBC.  I had IBC and then it progressed to skin mets after all treatments.  They just started as tiny little blisters and looked like nothing much but a biopsy confirmed metastastic breast cancer.  I was prescribed Xeloda which cleared them up almost immediately. 

Lena: Sorry to hear about your skin mets.  How are they being treated? 

2barkley

thank you all. Hers started out as about 15 little bumps near the mastectomy scar...they looked almost like mosquito bites and very red and hot. Now, it looks like a really tight web across the are and is very tight for her to move or stretch. Right now, the only treatment they are doing is the tamoxifen. This really worries me as her scans in the summer were all clear and I'm afraid the doing nothing but waiting for the tamoxifen is not going to be effective. Is Xeloda a cream?

Thanks again,

Heather

Faith316

Xeloda is an oral chemo.  It also worked for me.  I took AC, Taxol, Herceptin and had 30 rads for my initial diagnosis of IDC.  During rads and while still on Herceptin, I was diagnosed with IBC.  I went to MDA, they stopped Herceptin and switched me to Xeloda and Tykerb for 6 months and then I had a uni-mx and another axillary node dissection.  (I had a lumpectomy and axillary node dissection with the IDC dx.)  The pathology report showed NED.  I only took the Xeloda for 6 months but have been on the Tykerb for 26 months.  Still NED.

Lots of hand and foot syndrome with Xeloda but I can handle HF syndrome if it makes me NED!

Claudia413

For information about Inflammatory Breast Cancer and IBC specific clinics around the US, see the Inflammatory Breast Cancer  Foundation website at www.eraseibc.com. More IBC clinics are opening almost daily. 

What you described sounds more like skin mets to me. There are pictures of skin mets all over the web.  Google "skin mets pictures". Good luck in finding a correct diagnosis. Let us know what you learn.