Tailoring Treatment for Patients with Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

OPINION STATEMENT: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare but aggressive subtype of breast cancer that has a propensity for locoregional recurrence and distant metastasis and is associated with a disproportionately high percentage of breast cancer deaths. IBC is not resectable at initial diagnosis and trimodality therapy is considered the standard treatment for IBC. This includes systemic therapy upfront, followed by modified radical mastectomy and comprehensive chest wall and regional node radiation. Despite this aggressive multi-modal treatment strategy, the prognosis remains worse in IBC when compared with non-inflammatory locally advanced breast cancers. For patients presenting with de novo stage IV IBC, treatment recommendations vary depending on tumor burden, cancer subtype, and presence of comorbidities. Efforts to improve outcomes in IBC are currently underway; however, progress has been affected by the low incidence of disease and limited number of dedicated studies in this population. Improvements in systemic therapies in breast cancer in general are likely to lead to improvements in IBC as well. More dedicated trials are needed to identify additional treatment strategies that may help to improve prognosis for these patients. Additionally, better frameworks for diagnosis, risk stratification based upon factors such as molecular subtype and response to neoadjuvant therapy, will be important to make further progress in IBC.

Inflammatory breast cancer defined: proposed common diagnostic criteria to guide treatment and research.

PURPOSE: Inflammatory breast cancer is a deadly and aggressive type of breast cancer. A key challenge relates to the need for a more detailed, formal, objective definition of IBC, the lack of which compromises clinical care, hampers the conduct of clinical trials, and hinders the search for IBC-specific biomarkers and treatments because of the heterogeneity of patients considered to have IBC. METHODS: Susan G. Komen, the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Milburn Foundation convened patient advocates, clinicians, and researchers to review the state of IBC and to propose initiatives to advance the field. After literature review of the defining clinical, pathologic, and imaging characteristics of IBC, the experts developed a novel quantitative scoring system for diagnosis. RESULTS: The experts identified through consensus several "defining characteristics" of IBC, including factors related to timing of onset and specific symptoms. These reflect common pathophysiologic changes, sometimes detectable on biopsy in the form of dermal lymphovascular tumor emboli and often reflected in imaging findings. Based on the importance and extent of these characteristics, the experts developed a scoring scale that yields a continuous score from 0 to 48 and proposed cut-points for categorization that can be tested in subsequent validation studies. CONCLUSION: To move beyond subjective 'clinical diagnosis' of IBC, we propose a quantitative scoring system to define IBC, based on clinical, pathologic, and imaging features. This system is intended to predict outcome and biology, guide treatment decisions and inclusion in clinical trials, and increase diagnostic accuracy to aid basic research; future validation studies are necessary to evaluate its performance.

Inflammatory breast cancer: early recognition and diagnosis is critical.

Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and aggressive malignancy that is often initially misdiagnosed because of its similar presentation to more benign breast pathologies such as mastitis, resulting in treatment delays. Presenting symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include erythema, skin changes such as peau d' orange or nipple inversion, edema, and warmth of the affected breast. The average age at diagnosis is younger than in noninflammatory breast cancer cases. Known risk factors include African American race and obesity. Diagnostic criteria include erythema occupying at least one-third of the breast, edema, peau d' orange, and/or warmth, with or without an underlying mass; a rapid onset of <3 months; and pathologic confirmation of invasive carcinoma. Treatment of inflammatory breast cancer includes trimodal therapy with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. An aggressive surgical approach that includes a modified radical mastectomy enhances survival outcomes. Although the outcomes for patients with inflammatory breast cancer are poor compared with those of patients with noninflammatory breast cancer, patients with inflammatory breast cancer who complete trimodal therapy have a favorable locoregional control rate, underscoring the importance of a prompt diagnosis of this serious but treatable disease. Obstetrician-gynecologists and other primary care providers must recognize the signs and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer to make a timely diagnosis and referral for specialized care.

[A Case of Radiation Recall Dermatitis That Was Difficult to Distinguish from Inflammatory Breast Recurrence].

The case involved a 51-year-old woman who was diagnosed with Stage Ⅰ right breast cancer(cT1, N0, M0). Partial resection of the right breast and sentinel lymph node biopsy were performed. The histological type was found to be Stage Ⅰ triple-negative medullary carcinoma with pT1c, pN0(sn), and M0. A pituitary tumor was diagnosed after discharge. After removal of the pituitary tumor, whole-breast irradiation was performed. Subsequently, chemotherapy was started. Approximately 5 months after surgery, redness and swelling of the right breast were observed. Inflammatory breast cancer recurrence could not be ruled out by imaging, and skin biopsy was performed. No malignant findings were observed, and the symptoms were considered to indicate radiation recall dermatitis caused by chemotherapy. When chemotherapy was discontinued, the redness of the right breast improved.

Immune phenotype of patients with stage IV metastatic inflammatory breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare but aggressive carcinoma characterized by severe erythema and edema of the breast, with many patients presenting in advanced metastatic disease. The "inflammatory" nature is not due to classic immune-mediated inflammation, but instead results from tumor-mediated blockage of dermal lymphatic ducts. Previous work has shown that expression of PD-L1 on tumor cells can suppress T cell activation in triple-negative (TN) non-IBC breast cancer. In the present work, we investigated immune parameters in peripheral blood of metastatic IBC patients to determine whether cellular components of the immune system are altered, thereby contributing to pathogenesis of the disease. These immune parameters were also compared to PD-1 and PD-L1 expression in IBC tumor biopsies. METHODS: Flow cytometry-based immune phenotyping was performed using fresh peripheral blood from 14 stage IV IBC patients and compared to 11 healthy age-similar control women. Immunohistochemistry for CD20, CD3, PD-1, and PD-L1 was performed on tumor biopsies of these metastatic IBC patients. RESULTS: IBC patients with Stage IV disease had lymphopenia with significant reductions in circulating T, B, and NK cells. Reductions were observed in all subsets of CD4+ T cells, whereas reductions in CD8+ T cells were more concentrated in memory subsets. Immature cytokine-producing CD56bright NK cells expressed higher levels of FcγRIIIa and cytolytic granule components, suggesting accelerated maturation to cytolytic CD56dim cells. Immunohistochemical analysis of tumor biopsies demonstrated moderate to high expression of PD-1 in 18.2% of patients and of PD-L1 in 36.4% of patients. Interestingly, a positive correlation was observed between co-expression levels of PD-L1 and PD-1 in tumor biopsies, and higher expression of PD-L1 in tumor biopsies correlated with higher expression of cytolytic granule components in blood CD4+ T cells and CD56dim NK cells, and higher numbers of CD8+ effector memory T cells in peripheral blood. PD-1 expression in tumor also correlated with increased infiltration of CD20+ B cells in the tumor. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that while lymphocyte populations are severely compromised in stage IV IBC patients, an immune response toward the tumor had occurred in some patients, providing biological rationale to evaluate PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapies for IBC.

Discrepancy between FDG-PET/CT and contrast-enhanced CT in the staging of patients with inflammatory breast cancer: implications for treatment planning.

PURPOSE: Optimizing treatment strategies for patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) relies on accurate initial staging. This study compared contrast-enhanced computed tomography (ce-CT) and FDG-PET/CT for initial staging of IBC to determine the frequency of discordance between the two imaging modalities and potential impact on management. METHODS: 81 patients with IBC underwent FDG-PET/CT and ce-CT prior to starting treatment. FDG-PET/CT and ce-CT scans were independently reviewed for locoregional and distant metastases and findings recorded by anatomic site as negative, equivocal, or positive for breast cancer involvement. Each paired ce-CT and FDG-PET/CT case was classified as concordant or discordant for findings. Discordant findings were subclassified as (a) related to the presence or absence of distant metastases; (b) affecting the locoregional radiation therapy plan; or (c) due to incidental findings not related to IBC. RESULTS: There were 47 discordant findings between ce-CT and FDG-PET/CT in 41 of 81 patients (50.6%). Thirty (63.8%) were related to the presence or absence of distant metastases; most commonly disease detection on FDG-PET/CT but not ce-CT (n = 12). FDG-PET/CT suggested alterations of the locoregional radiation therapy plan designed by CT alone in 15 patients. FDG-PET/CT correctly characterized 5 of 7 findings equivocal for metastatic IBC on ce-CT. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates differences between ce-CT and FDG-PET/CT for initial staging of IBC and how these differences potentially affect patient management. Preliminary data suggest that FDG-PET/CT may be the imaging modality of choice for initial staging of IBC. Prospective trials testing initial staging with FDG-PET/CT versus important clinical end-points in IBC are warranted.

Characteristics associated with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC): An epidemiologic study from a dedicated IBC program.

There are scant data identifying epidemiologic characteristics among individuals diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), which is considered the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiologic features among patients seen at a dedicated IBC program, to elucidate the potential causes of this disease and guide prevention strategies. We reviewed retrospective data from 447 patients enrolled in an IRB-approved IBC registry through Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 1997 to 2016. The data examined included the following: demographics, medical, reproductive and family history, duration of symptoms prior to the diagnosis of IBC, pathologic characteristics, and clinical outcome. JMP statistical software was used to compile the data. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the data. The majority of patients (66.0%) were overweight or obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥25) at the time of diagnosis. Fifty patients (11.1%) had "secondary" IBC, defined as developing IBC after a previous history of non-IBC breast cancer in an ipsilateral breast. Of those patients with secondary IBC, 60% were also overweight or obese at the time of IBC diagnosis. Approximately 58% of IBC patients had a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, including first- and second-degree relatives. This analysis suggested a high frequency of familial breast/ovarian cancer among IBC patients which supports further evaluating genetic risks. This may have implications for screening and prevention strategies as well as insight into additional contributing risk factors. The prevalence of a high BMI among both pre- and postmenopausal women with IBC, including those diagnosed with secondary IBC, warrants focusing on strategies targeting the obesity crisis as a potential means of reducing the risk of developing this disease.

Literature-Wide Association Studies (LWAS) for a Rare Disease: Drug Repurposing for Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Drug repurposing is an effective means for rapid drug discovery. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a computational methodology based on Literature-Wide Association Studies (LWAS) of PubMed to repurpose existing drugs for a rare inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). We have developed a methodology that conducted LWAS based on the text mining technology Word2Vec. 3.80 million "cancer"-related PubMed abstracts were processed as the corpus for Word2Vec to derive vector representation of biological concepts. These vectors for drugs and diseases served as the foundation for creating similarity maps of drugs and diseases, respectively, which were then employed to find potential therapy for IBC. Three hundred and thirty-six (336) known drugs and three hundred and seventy (370) diseases were expressed as vectors in this study. Nine hundred and seventy (970) previously known drug-disease association pairs among these drugs and diseases were used as the reference set. Based on the hypothesis that similar drugs can be used against similar diseases, we have identified 18 diseases similar to IBC, with 24 corresponding known drugs proposed to be the repurposing therapy for IBC. The literature search confirmed most known drugs tested for IBC, with four of them being novel candidates. We conclude that LWAS based on the Word2Vec technology is a novel approach to drug repurposing especially useful for rare diseases.

Marital status is an independent prognostic factor in inflammatory breast cancer patients: an analysis of the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this analysis was to study the impact of marital status on inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) patients, as the prognostic impact is yet to be studied in detail. METHODS: Data of IBC patients from 2004 to 2010 were sorted out from the database of surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER), and overall survival (OS) rates and breast cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates were compared between a group of married and unmarried patients. The comparison was performed by Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test, and multivariate survival analysis of CSS and OS was performed using the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Data of 1342 patients were collected from the SEER database, on an average 52% of married patients (n = 698, 52.01%) and 48% of unmarried patients (n = 644, 47.99%) for this analysis. Married patients were more likely to be more younger (aged ≤ 56) (52.44% vs. 43.94%), white ethnicity (83.24% vs. 71.58%), HoR positive (48.28% vs. 41.61%), more patients received surgery (78.51% vs. 64.60%), chemotherapy (90.69% vs. 80.12%) and radiotherapy (53.44% vs. 44.41%) compared to unmarried group, and less likely to be AJCC stage IV (26.22% vs. 35.40%) (All P ˂ 0.05). Married patients had better 5-year CSS (74.90% vs. 65.55%, P < 0.0001) and OS rates (45.43% vs. 33.11%, P < 0.0001). The multivariate analysis revealed that marital status is an independent prognostic factor, whereas the data of unmarried patients showed worse CSS (HR 1.188; 95% CI 1.033-1.367; P = 0.016) and OS rates (HR 1.245; 95% CI 1.090-1.421; P = 0.001).The subgroup analysis further revealed that the OS and CSS rates in the married group were better than the unmarried group, regardless of different AJCC stages. CONCLUSION: Marital status was an independent prognostic indicator in IBC patients. As the study reveals, the CSS and OS rates of the married patients were better than those of the unmarried patients.

Characterization of inflammatory breast cancer: a vibrational microspectroscopy and imaging approach at the cellular and tissue level.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) has a poor prognosis because of the lack of specific biomarkers and its late diagnosis. An accurate and rapid diagnosis implemented early enough can significantly improve the disease outcome. Vibrational spectroscopy has proven to be useful for cell and tissue characterization based on the intrinsic molecular information. Here, we have applied infrared and Raman microspectroscopy and imaging to differentiate between non-IBC and IBC at both cell and tissue levels. Two human breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and SUM-149), 20 breast cancer patients (10 non-IBC and 10 IBC), and 4 healthy volunteer biopsies were investigated. Fixed cells and tissues were analyzed by FTIR microspectroscopy and imaging, while live cells were studied by Raman microspectroscopy. Spectra were analyzed by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and images by common k-means clustering algorithms. For both cell suspensions and single cells, FTIR spectroscopy showed sufficient high inter-group variability to delineate MDA-MB-231 and SUM-149 cell lines. Most significant differences were observed in the spectral regions of 1096-1108 and 1672-1692 cm-1. Analysis of live cells by Raman microspectroscopy gave also a good discrimination of these cell types. The most discriminant regions were 688-992, 1019-1114, 1217-1375 and 1516-1625 cm-1. Finally, k-means cluster analysis of FTIR images allowed delineating non-IBC from IBC tissues. This study demonstrates the potential of vibrational spectroscopy and imaging to discriminate between non-IBC and IBC at both cell and tissue levels.

Diffuse dermal angiomatosis mimicking inflammatory breast carcinoma.

Diffuse dermal angiomatosis (DDA) is a rare pathologically distinct subtype of reactive angioendotheliomatosis. In the literature, few biopsy-proven cases involving breast skin have been reported. We present a case of a 49-year-old female who presented with an indurated, erythematous, weeping, puckered and tender lesion with focal ulceration. Mammography demonstrated diffuse cutaneous and trabecular thickening concerning for inflammatory breast carcinoma. A punch biopsy demonstrated findings consistent with DDA. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of DDA mimicking inflammatory carcinoma of the breast by clinical and radiologic examination.

Inflammatory breast cancer in the Netherlands; improved survival over the last decades.

PURPOSE: Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) includes inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) as well as non-inflammatory LABC (NI-LABC). The aim of this population-based study was to compare the tumour characteristics, treatment and relative survival of IBC and NI-LABC patients. METHODS: Patients with either IBC (cT4d) or NI-LABC (cT4a-c) were identified from the nationwide Netherlands Cancer Registry from the period 1989-2015. In each group, patients are divided into three time periods in order to perform a trend analysis: 1989-1997, 1998-2006, and 2007-2015. RESULTS: IBC comprised 1.1% and NI-LABC 4.6% of all diagnosed breast cancer patients. IBC patients showed more nodal metastases (77.8 vs. 69.7%, P < 0.001) and distant metastases (39.7 vs. 34.1%, P < 0.001). IBC tumours were more often triple negative (23.2 vs. 12.8%, P < 0.001) and poorly differentiated (69.8 vs. 53.8%, P < 0.001). Trimodality therapy (neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy) was more often applied over time in both groups (IBC: 23.7%-56.0%-68.6%; NI-LABC: 3.7%-25.9%-43.6%; P trend < 0.001). In IBC patients, relative 5-year survival was significantly shorter than in patients with NI-LABC (30.2 vs. 45.1%, P < 0.001). The relative survival significantly improved for IBC from 17.2% (1989-1997) to 30.0 and 38.9% for the last two time periods (1998-2006: P < 0.001; 2007-2015: P < 0.001). In contrast, survival did not significantly improve in NI-LABC breast cancer: from 44.7% (1989-1997) to 44.0 and 48.4% (1998-2006: P = 0.483; 2007-2015: P = 0.091). CONCLUSIONS: IBC has tumour characteristics that determine its aggressive biology compared to NI-LABC. Trimodality therapy was increasingly applied in both groups, but did not improve survival in NI-LABC. Although relative survival in IBC patients has improved during the last decades, it remains a disease with a dismal prognosis.

Inflammatory breast cancer: the disease, the biology, the treatment.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare and aggressive form of invasive breast cancer accounting for 2.5% of all breast cancer cases. It is characterized by rapid progression, local and distant metastases, younger age of onset, and lower overall survival compared with other breast cancers. Historically, IBC is a lethal disease with less than a 5% survival rate beyond 5 years when treated with surgery or radiation therapy. Because of its rarity, IBC is often misdiagnosed as mastitis or generalized dermatitis. This review examines IBC's unique clinical presentation, pathology, epidemiology, imaging, and biology and details current multidisciplinary management of the disease, which comprises systemic therapy, surgery, and radiation therapy.

Carcinoma hemorrhagiectoides: case report of an uncommon presentation of cutaneous metastatic breast carcinoma.

In most cases, cutaneous metastases develop after the diagnosis of the primary internal malignancy has been established, but sometimes they can be discovered earlier or simultaneously. We describe a case of a 90-year-old woman who presented to the emergency room in poor general condition, with cutaneous lesions characterized by hot, infiltrated, violaceous and erythematous plaques involving the left chest wall. The clinical and histopathological findings were consistent with the recently described variant of inflammatory cutaneous metastatic carcinoma named carcinoma hemorrhagiectoides. Microscopic examination demonstrated extensive infiltration of the dermis by tumor cells as well as intralymphatic involvement by neoplastic cells. This is a very rare presentation of cutaneous metastasis from breast cancer.

[A Case of Rapidly Advancing G-CSF Producing Pleomorphic Carcinoma of the Breast Appearing as an Inflammatory Breast Cancer].

We report a rare case of pleomorphic carcinoma of the breast, suspected of being a granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF)producing tumor, in a 75-year-old woman. She presented with a red and swollen breast, 3 weeks after undergoing core needle biopsy(CNB). Her leukocyte counts and C-reactive protein(CRP)levels were markedly high. At first, she was suspected to have an abscess and was initiated on a course of antibiotics. However, her condition rapidly deteriorated; therefore, she underwent an emergency mastectomy. Despite undergoing postoperative radiation therapy, 2 months after the operation, multiple metastatic foci were found in the lungs and liver, and she died of the disease 3 months after her first visit. After the operation, her leukocyte count had quickly returned to normal, but it increased as the disease progressed. These findings support the conclusion that this carcinoma was producing G-CSF. The final pathological diagnosis was G-CSF producing pleomorphic carcinoma of the breast.

Outcomes of patients with inflammatory breast cancer treated by breast-conserving surgery.

PURPOSE: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is rare and associated with a poor prognosis. Following neoadjuvant chemotherapy or endocrine therapy, the multidisciplinary team selected a small number of patients for breast-conservation therapy (BCT). The aim of this study was to determine the outcome of IBC patients treated with BCT in Edinburgh. METHODS: Between January 1999 and December 2013, thirty-five women with IBC were treated by BCT. The median follow-up was 80 months. RESULTS: The 5-year actuarial survival for the 35 patients was 70.3 %. Median survival for 20 neoadjuvant chemotherapy patients was 12.9 years (95 % CI 7.6, 18.1), and for 14 patient neoadjuvant endocrine therapy patients, it was 11.8 years (95 % CI 1.1, 22.6) (p = 0.34). Five patients developed locoregional recurrence (LRR) between 11 and 72 months after BCT (median 37 months). Three had breast only recurrence, one patient had both breast and axillary recurrence, and one developed axillary recurrence. The 5-year LR-free survival was 87.5 % (95 % CI 76.0, 99.0). In 4 of the 5 patients with LRR, systemic metastases were diagnosed within 6 months and survival post-LRR in these 4 patients was short. CONCLUSION: IBC is not an absolute contraindication to BCT. LRR in patients after BCT appears part of widespread recurrent disease rather than inadequate local treatment. Multicentre data should be collected to confirm that women with IBC who have a good response to systemic therapy may be offered BCT in the knowledge that in a larger series our observations are confirmed.

Circulating tumor cells in newly diagnosed inflammatory breast cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. The prognostic value of a CTC count in newly diagnosed IBC has not been established. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of a baseline CTC count in patients with newly diagnosed IBC. METHODS: This retrospective study included 147 patients with newly diagnosed IBC (77 with locally advanced and 70 with metastatic IBC) treated with neoadjuvant therapy or first-line chemotherapy during the period from January 2004 through December 2012 at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. CTCs were detected and enumerated by using the CellSearch system before patients were started with chemotherapy. RESULTS: The proportion of patients with ≥1 CTC was lower among patients with stage III than among patients with metastatic IBC (54.5% versus 84.3%; P=0.0002); the proportion of patients with ≥5 CTCs was also lower for stage III than for metastatic IBC (19.5% versus 47.1%; P=0.0004). Patients with fewer than five CTCs had significantly better progression-free survival (PFS) (hazard ratio (HR)=0.60; P=0.02) and overall survival (HR=0.59; P=0.03) than patients with five or more CTCs. Among patients with stage III IBC, there was a nonsignificant difference in PFS (HR=0.66; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.31 to 1.39; P=0.29) and OS (HR=0.54; 95% CI, 0.24 to 1.26; P=0.48) in patients with no CTCs compared with patients with one or more CTCs. In multivariate analysis, CTC was prognostic for PFS and OS independent of clinical stage. CONCLUSIONS: CTCs can be detected in a large proportion of patients with newly diagnosed IBC and are a strong predictor of worse prognosis in patients with newly diagnosed IBC.

Confocal fluorescence microscopy for rapid evaluation of invasive tumor cellularity of inflammatory breast carcinoma core needle biopsies.

Tissue sampling is a problematic issue for inflammatory breast carcinoma, and immediate evaluation following core needle biopsy is needed to evaluate specimen adequacy. We sought to determine if confocal fluorescence microscopy provides sufficient resolution to evaluate specimen adequacy by comparing invasive tumor cellularity estimated from standard histologic images to invasive tumor cellularity estimated from confocal images of breast core needle biopsy specimens. Grayscale confocal fluorescence images of breast core needle biopsy specimens were acquired following proflavine application. A breast-dedicated pathologist evaluated invasive tumor cellularity in histologic images with hematoxylin and eosin staining and in grayscale and false-colored confocal images of cores. Agreement between cellularity estimates was quantified using a kappa coefficient. 23 cores from 23 patients with suspected inflammatory breast carcinoma were imaged. Confocal images were acquired in an average of less than 2 min per core. Invasive tumor cellularity estimated from histologic and grayscale confocal images showed moderate agreement by kappa coefficient: κ = 0.48 ± 0.09 (p < 0.001). Grayscale confocal images require less than 2 min for acquisition and allow for evaluation of invasive tumor cellularity in breast core needle biopsy specimens with moderate agreement to histologic images. We show that confocal fluorescence microscopy can be performed immediately following specimen acquisition and could indicate the need for additional biopsies at the initial visit.

Identifying the impact of inflammatory breast cancer on survival: a retrospective multi-center cohort study.

PURPOSE: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) represents a rare and aggressive form of cancer with negative prognosis and high rate of recurrence. The purpose of this retrospective multi-center study was to evaluate the effect of IBC on overall and disease-free survival. Furthermore we analyzed the influence of hormone and Her2 receptor expression on inflammatory breast cancer cells on the clinical outcome of patients. METHODS: This retrospective German multi-center study included 11,780 patients with primary breast cancer recruited from 1992 to 2008. In this sub-group analysis we focused on 70 patients with IBC. RESULTS: Despite the relatively small sample size, we could confirm the aggressiveness of inflammatory breast cancer and the different clinical behavior of IBC subtypes. It could be demonstrated that the lack of expression of hormone receptors on tumor cells is associated with a more aggressive clinical course and decreased overall and disease-free survival. Higher incidence of Her2 overexpression, that is typically associated with poor prognostic outcome among women with non-IBC tumors, seems however to have no prognostic significance. CONCLUSIONS: This BRENDA sub-group analysis, on a German cohort of breast cancer patients confirmed the negative outcome of IBC and the different clinical behavior of IBC subtypes. The best management of IBC requires intensive coordination and cooperation between various clinical disciplines involved in the treatment of IBC patients. Moreover there is a need to identify IBC-specific targeted therapies to improve the curing prospects of this subtype of cancer.