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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staff
Diagnosing inflammatory breast cancer
Tests and procedures used to diagnose inflammatory breast cancer include:
- A physical exam. Your doctor examines your breast to look for redness and other signs of inflammatory breast cancer.
- Removing a sample of tissue for testing. A biopsy is a procedure to remove a small sample of suspicious breast tissue for testing. The tissue is analyzed in a laboratory to look for signs of cancer.
- Imaging tests. Your doctor may recommend a breast X-ray (mammogram) or a breast ultrasound to look for signs of cancer in your breast, such as thickened skin. Additional imaging tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging and molecular breast imaging, may be recommended in certain situations.
Staging inflammatory breast cancer
If you have inflammatory breast cancer, your doctor will work to determine the extent (stage) of your cancer. This process is called staging. Additional tests that may be used to stage your cancer include computerized tomography (CT) scan and bone scan.
The stages of inflammatory breast cancer are:
- Stage III. At this stage, cancer is considered to be locally advanced cancer — meaning it has spread to nearby lymph nodes and to the fibrous connective tissue inside the breast.
- Stage IV. At this stage, cancer has spread to other parts of your body.
References
- Breast cancer. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/f_guidelines.asp. Accessed Feb. 9, 2012.
- Inflammatory breast cancer: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/IBC. Accessed Feb. 9, 2012.
- Dawood S, et al. International expert panel on inflammatory breast cancer: Consensus statement for standardized diagnosis and treatment. Annals of Oncology. 2011;22:15.
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