No Brainer

Women are told time and time again to get mammograms to check their breasts for lumps, signs of cancerous tumors. But did you know there is another type of breast cancer that is even more aggressive than the breast cancer most women are familiar with? Very few people know about IBC and it is silently killing women around the world undetected until it’s too late.

IBC or Inflammatory Breast Cancer doesn’t come as a lump. It can’t be detected by touch or by a mammogram because there are no lumps to feel for, only a mass of tissue often referred to as a nest of cancer. The best way to detect IBC is by MRI or biopsy. The cancer clogs breast tissue vessels.

Symptoms include:

• Rapid increase in breast size
• Redness
• Skin is hot to the touch
• Persistent itching
• Thickening of the breast tissue
• Nipple retraction
• Change in color and texture of the aureole

Often a reddish area shows up on the breast resembling a bug bite. Many women go to the doctor seeking an answer to the itchy reddish area, but go away with creams or lotions told that it is only an insect bite or rash. Very few doctors know of IBC. Many cancer agencies are even clueless to this cancer.

When I asked my wife about this cancer, she said, as she was watching an online video, “Yes, I’ve heard of…No, I haven’t heard of that cancer.” as she saw that it wasn’t the breast cancer she had learned about growing up.

So inform women of this cancer to educate. If you have symptoms similar to the ones described above, go to the doctor and tell him or her about this cancer. It is likely even they have never learned of it.

For more information on IBC, go to the following sites:

• http://www.ibcresearch.org
• http://www.ibcsupport.org
• http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/content.php?page_id=45

I hope you find this article interesting and helpful. If you have time, please leave me a comment. I enjoy feedback. Thanks!