Can non-IBC breast cancers also affect the breast skin surface?

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Medvetz63
Medvetz63 Member Posts: 17
edited June 2014 in IBC (Inflammatory Breast Cancer)

My wifes initial cancer two years ago was a lump inside the breast, it was not IBC. However she has had a recurrence now in the same breast that was effected before and according to her doctor it has spread to the skin locally on the breast. This is a text message the doctor sent me:

"The size is hard to determine but the tumor has spread into the skin. This looks like a stage III recurrence, but we will know better after imaging is complete."

What I'm wondering is this: Does the invasion into the skin automatically make it Inflamatory Breast Cancer or is it simply regular cancer that recurred close enough to the skin's surface that it invaded it.

Everything I read on Google makes it sound like Inflamatory Breast Cancer is a totally different cancer from the other breast cancers and therefore since my wife's primary wasn't IBC then this wouldn't be either or at least if it was this would mean it's a new primary rather than a recurrence of the one from 2 years ago, however I know that one of the hallmarks of IBC is skin involvement and I also know that IBC is always at least stage III from the get go.

 Can other non-IBC breast cancers also invade or spread to the breast skin locally the way IBC does?

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Comments

  • Stormynyte
    Stormynyte Member Posts: 650
    edited May 2012

    I have IDC and it had broken through my skin. I was never told that it was then something else. When I started taking Tamoxifen, the tumor shrunk enough that the skin healed up but still had to be removed as it was "involved".

    I believe invasive is invasive, to either breast tissue or skin or whatever else it comes into contact with.

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  • ma111
    ma111 Member Posts: 1,376
    edited May 2012

    Dr Google is a not the best resource.

    My IBC was a rash that looked like dermatitis/orange peel. That was after a year and a half of no lump, just nodes and other distant things showing up. IBC does not have a lump. It does sound like a mets to the skin.

    Any cancer can spread to the skin and can look like a dimple, pimple or just a small raised area.

    I do half to say that your wife is lucky to have such a great husband to come here and ask questions. Feel free to keep posting questions.

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  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited May 2012

    My cancer originally appeared as a half-dollar sized pinkish spot with peau d'orange texture in the skin of the pink spot.  Mammography and ultrasound revealed a 0.8 cm lump beneath it, very close to the surface.  The biopsy of the lump came back invasive ductal carcinoma. 

    My oncologist said it was NOT inflammatory breast cancer, which is a clinical diagnosis, not a pathology of the cancer itself.  IBC affects more than 1/3 of the skin of the breast and typically involves sheets, or nests, of cancer cells throughout the skin. 

    So to answer your question...skin involvement doesn't necessarily indicate an IBC diagnosis. 

    Blessings to you, and thanks for loving and supporting your wife.

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  • dogeyed
    dogeyed Member Posts: 884
    edited May 2012

    Well, I won the lottery when it came to breast cancer.  I noticed the IBC first, the skin was very rough and my boob had swollen up larger than the other one.  Mammogram showed I had IDC, the main tumor was 5cm, maybe the size of a walnut, and I NEVER felt it.  Then I also had a melanoma in a mole on the breast.  The IBC was the doc's clinical diagnosis, the IDC showed up in the mammo, and the melanoma was proven after surgery.  So, I went thru the usual chemo, surgery, rads, and as far as I'm concerned, I am well, I am cured, and while I know the chance is imminent that I'll have cancer all over again, with the percentages just awful, nevertheless my attitude is calm and positive about the situation.  It's the only way I can be.  So, even IF your wife DID have IBC, and true, it's scary and it's dangerous, but to me it's all the same dang thing, multiplying cells trying to kill a person.

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  • Kicks
    Kicks Member Posts: 4,131
    edited May 2012

    IBC is different. That does not mean that it could not ALSO develope.



    As I understood/remember Dr T explaining it - the 'signs' that are initially seen in the skin with IBC is not the cancer in the skin but in the lymphatic system within the skin. As long as it is in the lymphatics only it is Stage III but once in invades the skin it would be Stage IV. (Stage III for me. Aug will be 3 yrs post DX and still riding NED.)



    Any cancer can metatisis to anywhere including the skin - the skin can metastisis to any area. Does not make it Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Really nasty multi-headed monsters.



    What have you heard from the Drs?



    Your wife's Drs are the ones that can give you answers.

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  • Yanyan
    Yanyan Member Posts: 38
    edited June 2012

    I had a local recurrence to skin whilst till on treatment. My oncologist says IBC is more of a clinical syptom. My original dx was IDC. My path report of the local recurrence indicates " cancer cell in skin lymphactic".  It started as pea size raised red spot, got into the size of a quarter in one month. I am currently on tykerb and xeloda. Will have surgery to remove the affected skin once it is stablized. There is another member whom i got good information from is Faith. She had the same thing happened to her.

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  • Kicks
    Kicks Member Posts: 4,131
    edited June 2012

    Because you had a recurrance in the skin does not automatically make it Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I'm IBC - no previous HX. There are many who do devolope skin cancers but are not IBC.

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