IDC with redness and swelling on breast

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phet7178
phet7178 Member Posts: 74
edited August 2019 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with IDC three months ago - ER 8/8, PR 8/8, Her2-, and scans (US, Mammogram, MRI and CT) suggest no lymph spread. We found the cancer after I noticed a pink rash and mild swelling on my breast. These are hallmarks of inflammatory breast cancer, and that's what they thought I had at first. But then they did a punch biopsy on my skin, which had no cancer in it, so the diagnosis was changed to non-inflammatory. I also lacked a few of the extra signs of inflammatory cancer (orange peel skin, redness covering 1/3 of breast, high chance of lymphatic spread etc).

My oncologist and surgeon can't explain to my why, with non-inflammatory BC, I nonetheless had redness and swelling (which, incidentally, I still have after 3 cycles of neoadjuvant EC). They don't seem to worried about it and said 'well, 90% sure it's not inflammatory so don't worry.' But I do! Inflammatory requires different treatment and has a different prognosis...

So my question is: have any of you with 'regular' IDC also noticed anything on your skin? I think my tumor is quite close to the skin surface, and my only guess is that by 'pushing up' the flesh above it, it has irritated and inflamed the skin above (causing the swelling and pink color). But I can't find examples of other people who have reacted this way...any thoughts much appreciated!

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  • Flo80
    Flo80 Member Posts: 349
    edited July 2019

    Hi just curious what treatment did they give you. As me too was diagnosed with IDC and my surgeon had told it’s ibc so did the radiobut my oncologist said it’s not inflammatory. Since it involved my skin they gave me the same treatment as for IB

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  • Ostino
    Ostino Member Posts: 1
    edited August 2019

    Could it be cellulitis or mastitis? I've had both. The mastitis lead to my IDC diagnosis. Cellulitis (deep skin infection) came after LX surgery. Both were resolved with antibiotics. This is just a guess but perhaps the inflammatory process going on with BC might also be contributing to a low grade infection?

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  • santabarbarian
    santabarbarian Member Posts: 3,085
    edited August 2019

    (raising hand urgently like Tracey Flick)

    Me! Me! I had IDC too-- and mine presented with a pink spot (not a rash) on my breast, and a slight fever w chills the first day the spot appeared.

    I noticed it getting out of the bath, this circle of pink on the white of my breast. Then I touched it and poked it and found the lump. My lump was easily palpable and right underneath the pink spot. (It felt and behaved just like mastitis if you ever had that... only I was menopausal and my "baby" was 20). Went right in and had diagnosis that week.

    I have had a very good response to chemo. They have recently found out that some TNBCs are "immune activated" and this kind of TNBC gets a good response to chemo. I am not sure if the inflammatory response (part of the immunological response) indicates that my TNBC was "immune activated" or not, but it has crossed my mind since I got an excellent response to chemo.

    My pink spot did not last through chemo though. It faded pretty quickly.

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