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A member asked:
What are the differences between inflammatory breast cancer and mastitis?
8 doctors weighed in across 3 answers
Cancer: One is an infection and one is cancer. Mastitis is an infection and looks like inflammatory breast cancer.
Answered 11/26/2012
5.5k views
Cancer v. Infection: Inflammatory breast cancer is an aggressive subtype of invasive breast cancer, characterized by the spread of cancer cells into the lymphatics of the skin of the breast, giving the breast the appearance of an infection. Treatment is directed at chemo first followed by mastectomy and then radiation therapy. Unfortunately, diagnosis is often delayed due to the misdiagnosis of mastitis.
Answered 2/17/2016
5.5k views
Major difference: Inflammatory breast cancer is a serious agressive cancer. It needs to be diagnosed early and treated agressively. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish mastitis from inflammatory breast cancer. If not certain a full thickness skin biopsy could be helpful.
Answered 2/17/2016
5.5k views
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