Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Improvements to Site

Over the next several months some changes and updates to this site will be made. The first change already made is that all links now appear in blue, and are underlined to make it clear that something is indeed a link. Your patience with the changes is appreciated, and suggestions are welcome.

Information on Clinical Trials

The second improvement, to the right, is an RSS feed from Clinical Trials.gov that shows the 10 newest clinical trials for breast cancer. This feed means that as soon as a new clinical trial for breast cancer is posted on that site, it will appear right here on the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation web site.

There are many more clinical trials on that site, but we chose to display the most recent 10 items to conserve space. To find all breast cancer clinical trials go to: http://clinicaltrialsfeeds.org/clinical-trials/results/term=breast+neoplasms On that page, you can specify only “open” trials, or all trials.

•News from the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (posted 12-09-2010)

CR REPORTS FROM THE 2010 SABCS
Each year, the SABCS conference provides a forum for communication about clinical, translational and basic research among researchers, health professionals and those with a special interest in breast cancer. Two podcasts have been released today, find them on this CR page.

PODCAST: Pathobiology of Breast Cancer
Andrea L. Richardson, MD, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, discusses the biology of breast cancer and the history of the understanding and treatment of the disease.

PODCAST: Novel Strategies for Breast Cancer Therapy
Edith A. Perez, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., discusses progress toward improved classification of breast cancer subtypes and how biomarkers are related to the treatment of the disease.

Elizabeth Edwards’ Death Drives Advocates at SABCS by Kathy LaTour (read the rest of the article from CureToday)

There is a sense of urgency among the 36 patient advocates gathered in a hotel meeting room before the beginning of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Having just arrived, most are hearing for the first time about the death of Elizabeth Edwards from metastatic breast cancer.

Little is said about Edwards as the women introduce themselves, each beginning with her number of years of survivorship and some adding details such as HER2 status and whether she is triple negative or metastatic. Then they tell of their affiliations back home where they work on research, education or policy at the community, state or national level: SHARE, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the National Breast Cancer Coalition, Y-ME, Young Survival Coalition, Gilda’s Club or others, as well as national organizations in Nigeria, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Egypt and Scotland….

Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation

The IBC Research Foundation is dedicated to researching the cause of Inflammatory Breast Cancer, also known as IBC, an advanced and accelerated form of breast cancer usually not detected by mammograms or ultrasounds. Inflammatory breast cancer requires immediate aggressive treatment with chemotherapy prior to surgery and is treated differently than more common types of breast cancer.

There is more than one kind of breast cancer.

We have been taught and are reminded frequently by public service announcements and by the medical community that when a woman discovers a lump on her breast she should go to the doctor immediately. Inflammatory breast cancer usually grows in nests or sheets, rather than as a confined, solid tumor and therefore can be diffuse throughout the breast with no palpable mass. The cancer cells clog the lymphatic system just below the skin. Lymph node involvement is assumed. Increased breast density compared to prior mammograms should be considered suspicious.

You Don’t Have to Have a Lump to Have Breast Cancer.

Some women who have inflammatory breast cancer may remain undiagnosed for long periods, even while seeing their doctor to learn the cause of her symptoms. The symptoms are similar to mastitis, a breast infection and some doctors, not recognizing IBC, will prescribe antibiotics. If a response to antibiotics is not apparent after a week, a biopsy should be performed or a referral to a breast specialist is warranted.