Will the early symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer be painful?

The early symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are usually not mainly pain, but more often inflammation-like changes such as redness, swelling and fever of the breast skin. If you have similar symptoms, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible, because inflammatory breast cancer is a highly invasive and rapidly progressive type of breast cancer, and early diagnosis and treatment are key.

1 Cause Analysis

Inflammatory breast cancer is a special type of breast cancer caused by cancer cells blocking the lymphatic vessels under the breast skin. This blockage causes local fluid accumulation in the breast, which causes the breast tissue to swell and redden, showing an inflammatory appearance. Its cause is mainly related to gene mutations, hormone effects and certain risk factors such as obesity and family history, but the specific mechanism is still under study. In the early stages of the disease, there is less obvious pain caused by structural lesions.

2 Early symptoms

Early symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer usually include redness of the breast skin that looks like orange peel, swelling, fever, thickening of the skin, accompanied by burning sensation or tenderness, but rarely severe pain. The breast may become hard or enlarged, the nipple may be inverted, or ulcers may appear on some skin. If you observe these symptoms, even if you do not feel pain, you should not ignore them and go to the hospital for a detailed examination in time.

3. Countermeasures

Diagnosis: Differential diagnosis can be made through mammography, breast ultrasound, MRI scans, and core needle biopsy. PET-CT helps to evaluate potential lymph node and distant metastasis.

Treatment options: The treatment of inflammatory breast cancer requires comprehensive multidisciplinary collaboration, usually including chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.

Chemotherapy: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy Preoperative chemotherapy is a commonly used strategy, which can timely control the spread of tumor lesions and reduce tumor volume.

Surgery: Usually a mastectomy is used, and the axillary lymph nodes may be removed at the same time.

Radiotherapy: Postoperative radiotherapy is used to further reduce the chance of recurrence.

Lifestyle advice: Patients need to maintain regular breast examinations, seek medical attention immediately if any suspicious signs are found, and adjust their diet and lifestyle to enhance immunity.

Although the early symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are not dominated by pain, they are very significant and should be treated with high vigilance. If the above symptoms occur, whether or not there is pain, it is recommended to go to a professional medical institution as soon as possible to get a clear diagnosis and take effective treatment to avoid missing the best time for intervention.