Inflammatory breast cancer: Epidemiologic data and therapeutic results

Since the early description more than a century ago, inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) remains an aggressive disease, with a different geographic repartition, with the highest ones incidence reported in the North of Africa (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt), and the lowest incidence in Western countries (USA, Europe…). In this study, we reviewed the literature using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database compared to other published series. We observed that in the high incidence areas (North of Africa) when compared to "classical" breast cancer, IBC was associated to younger age (less than 50 years) with rapid evolution of signs and symptoms (in less than 3 up to 6 months), and more aggressive clinical and histopathological-molecular parameters, due to the predominance of triple-negative and HER2+ subtypes in around 60% of cases. An epidemiologic trend was observed in both high and low incidence areas since the eighties are towards reduction of IBC prevalence. Concerning Tunisia, in comparison with the historical series of the 1980s, the incidence decreased in part by applying more stringent diagnostic criteria but also probably due to a slight improvement of the socio-economic level (SEL). This trend was also observed in the US, due to the efforts of collaborative IBC groups from MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Duke and IBC patient advocacy groups. Therapeutic results are slightly better due to the standardization of a multidisciplinary approach and the use of combined primary chemotherapy and/or targeted therapies (especially in HER2 positive patients), followed by mastectomy plus radiotherapy. The 5-year overall and disease-free survival is at more than 60%, related to an IBC mortality decrease observed in the cohorts of patients treated in the last decade.