Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Treatment Effects on Survival in Patients with Inflammatory Breast Cancer

The objective of this study was to determine the survival rate and the effects of different treatments on patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). The study employed a systematic approach that included a search strategy across four databases: Embase, Web of Sciences, PubMed, and Scopus. The results obtained were screened initially by titles and abstracts, followed by full-texts in EndNote 8 software. The next stage involved data extraction and qualitative evaluation, where the Metan command was used to estimate the pooled survival rate. A total of 28 studies with a sample size of 63,796 were finally analyzed. The overall 3- and 5-year survival rates (OS) for IBC patients were found to be 52% (95% CI; 46-58%, I2: 99.42%) and 61% (95% CI; 53-69%, I2: 93.63%), respectively. The 5-year OS rates in patients with non-metastatic and metastatic IBC were 59% (95% CI; 54-63%, I2: 98.31%) and 30% (95% CI; 26-35%, I2: 50.84%), respectively. The 5-year OS rate in non-metastatic patients who underwent BCS surgery was 60% (CI 95%; 26-94%, I2: 95.13%). The overall 5- and 3-year OS rates for patients with IBC were lower than those for all types of breast cancer, and the rates were even lower in patients with metastasis. Therefore, it is recommended that healthcare workers and women at risk should be vigilant of early symptoms of IBC to prevent metastasis by seeking medical attention on time.