6 aspects to differentiate acute mastitis from inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer is a special lesion in the development of breast cancer. It is more common in pregnant or lactating women. In the early stages, the clinical symptoms are often similar to those of acute mastitis and should be differentiated during the diagnosis process.

The difference between the two is generally reflected in the following six aspects:

1. Different skin manifestations

In acute mastitis, the skin swelling is often bright red, while in inflammatory breast cancer, the skin changes often involve the entire breast and are dark red or purple in color.

2. Different manifestations of edema

Edema is a common symptom of acute mastitis and inflammatory breast cancer. In acute mastitis, the skin shows general pitting edema, while in inflammatory breast cancer, the skin edema appears "orange peel-like".

3. Different systemic symptoms

Acute mastitis has an acute onset and is usually accompanied by obvious systemic inflammatory reactions such as chills and high fever. Inflammatory breast cancer has no obvious systemic inflammatory reaction. If accompanied by fever, it is low or moderate fever.

4. Different nature of the lumps

The axillary lymph nodes of acute mastitis are relatively soft, have no adhesion to the surrounding tissues, and are very mobile. However, the axillary lymph nodes of inflammatory breast cancer are enlarged and hard, adhere to the skin and surrounding tissues, and are not mobile when pushed by hand.

5. Different degrees of malignancy

Compared with acute mastitis, inflammatory breast cancer is more dangerous. It usually does not form pus or cause skin ulcers, but it can spread to the neck and arms outside the ipsilateral breast, and can even invade the contralateral breast.

6. Different prognostic effects

Anti-inflammatory treatment is effective for acute mastitis and has a good prognosis; however, anti-inflammatory treatment is often ineffective for inflammatory breast cancer and has a poor prognosis.