Clinicopathological features of inflammatory versus noninflammatory locally advanced nonmetastatic breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare but aggressive form of breast cancer. It is mainly a clinical diagnosis. The aim of this study was to compare IBC to clinically diagnosed noninflammatory locally advanced nonmetastatic breast cancer, also called cLABC.


METHODS
One hundred and eight patients were studied: 49 with IBC and 59 with cLABC. The following features were analyzed: age at diagnosis, body mass index (BMI), axillary lymph node status (cN), estrogen receptor status (ER), progesterone receptor status (PR), HER2 status, histological tumor grade and subtype. Short-term disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were also assessed in both groups.


RESULTS
Compared with cLABC, IBC was less often PR positive (41.7 vs. 66.1%, p = 0.01) and showed a trend to be more often HER2 positive (34.7 vs. 19.3%, p = 0.07). The 3-year DFS was 63 and 77%, respectively, for IBC and cLABC (p = 0.01); these figures were 83 and 85% for OS (p = 0.17). No significant differences in age at diagnosis, ER, cN, BMI, histological tumor grade or subtype were demonstrated.


CONCLUSIONS
Compared to cLABC, IBC are more frequently PR negative, have a worse DFS, and have a tendency to be more often HER2 positive. These data reinforce the idea of IBC being a distinct biological entity compared to noninflammatory breast cancer.
Brouwers
B
B
Multidisciplinary Breast Centre, Department of General Medical Oncology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Paridaens
R
R
Lobelle
J P
JP
Hendrickx
W
W
Smeets
A
A
Neven
P
P
Weltens
C
C
Deraedt
K
K
Vanden Bempt
I
I
Christiaens
M R
MR
Wildiers
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000032:analysis
D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone