Resources for Inflammatory Breast Cancer

• Books
• Links to other resources on the web
• Journal articles related to IBC
• "Alternative" treatments
• Caregivers
• How to get Journal Articles
• Metastatic Breast Cancer

Books

Links

Journal Articles

These are all technical journal articles, but don't be put off: they're generally pretty readable. Don't forget Inflammatory Breast Cancer can be referred to as Rapidly Progressing Breast Cancer (RPBC), or PEV (poussee evolutive). See below for information on how to get journal articles.

• Chambler, A.F.W. et al. Inflammatory breast carcinoma. Surgical Oncology 1995; 4: 245-254.
  Pretty good overview of IBC diagnosis and treatment. Quite readable.
• Palangie et al. Prognostic Factors in Inflammatory Breast Cancer and Therapeutic Implications.  European Journal of Cancer Vol. 30A, No. 7, pp. 921-927, 1994.
  Results of a study trying to find the most significant prognostic factors for IBC. They were:
  1. Complete tumor regression after completion of induction treatment (at eight months);
  2. Complete regression of inflammatory symptoms after 3 months of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy;
  3. Limited erythema at presentation.
  You should read the article before taking these too seriously, though.
• von Schilling, C., Herrmann, F. Dose-intensified treatment of breast cancer: current results. J Mol Med (1995) 73:611-627.
  Overview of different high dose chemotherapy options for breast cancer, with some good tables giving survival figures for each.
• Wiseman, Charles L. Inflammatory Breast Cancer: 10-YearFollow-up of a Trial of Surgery, Chemotherapy, and Allogenic Tumor Cell/BCG Immunotherapy. Cancer Investigation, 13(3), 267-271 (1995)
  Gives charts of disease-free survival at 10 years, suggesting a plateau at 5 years and 31% survival at 10 years.
• Lopez, Marvin J., Porter, Kathleen A. Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Surgical Clinics of North America Volume 76 Number 2 April 1996, pp. 411-429
  Historical overview of IBC, with lots of information about treatment. Very readable.
• Chang S, Parker SL, Pham T, Buzdar AU, Hursting SD Inflammatory breast carcinoma incidence and survival: the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program of the National Cancer Institute, 1975-1992 Cancer 1998 Jun 15;82(12):2366-72
  An overview of IBC incidence and survival rates
• Chang S, Buzdar AU, Hursting SD Inflammatory breast cancer and body mass index. J Clin Oncol 1998 Dec;16(12):3731-5
  Paper questioning whether weight is a factor in IBC
• Prost S, Le MG, Douc-Rasy S, Ahomadegbe JC, Spielmann M, Guerin M, Riou G Association of c-erbB2-gene amplification with poor prognosis in non-inflammatory breast carcinomas but not in carcinomas of the inflammatory type. Int J Cancer 1994 Sep 15;58(6):763-8
  On the topic of erbB2 (Her2nu) and Inflammatory Breast Cancer
• Chiedozi LC Rapidly progressing breast cancer in Nigeria Eur J Surg Oncol1987 Dec;13(6):505-9
  Addreses the poor prognosis of breast cancer for women in Nigeria
• Khanna R, Khanna S, Chaturvedi S, Arya NC Spectrum of breast disease in young females: a retrospective study of1315 patients. Indian J Pathol Microbiol 1998 Oct;41(4):397-401
  Higher incidence of Inflammatory Breast Cancer in younger Indian women
• Costa J, Webber BL, Levine PH, Muenz L, O'Conor GT, Tabbane F, Belhassen S, Kamaraju LS, Mourali N Histopathological features of rapidly progressing breast carcinoma in Tunisia: a study of 94 cases. Int J Cancer 1982 Jul 15;30(1):35-7
  High incidence of Inflammatory Breast Cancer in Tunisia
• Tabbane F, el May A, Hachiche M, Bahi J, Jaziri M, Cammoun M, Mourali N Breast cancer in women under 30 years of age Breast Cancer Res Treat 1985;6(2):137-44
• Bonnier P, Charpin C, Lejeune C, Romain S, Tubiana N, Beedassy B, Martin PM, Serment H, Piana L Inflammatory carcinomas of the breast: a clinical, pathological, or a clinical and pathological definition? Int J Cancer 1995 Aug 9 62:4 382-5
  IBC -- a clinical or a pathological definition ?
• Jane Poulson, M.D. University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada Bitter Pills to Swallow The New England Journal of Medicine -- June 18, 1998 -- Vol. 338, No. 25  
  Jane Poulson, MD, diagnosed with IBC, writes of her experience with treatment
• Jane Poulson, MD The days that will still be mine CMAJ1998;158:1633-6 
  Another article by Jane Poulson, MD
• Jane Poulson, MD Dead tired CMAJ1998;158:1748-50 
  In this article, Jane Poulson, MD writes about fatigue associated with cancer treatments.

• AESTHETIC RECONSTRUCTION FOLLOWING MASTECTOMY FOR INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER: IS IT WORTHWHILE? P.L. Chin, J.S. Andersen, D.Z.J. Chu, G. Somlo, I.B. Paz, J.D.I. Ellenhorn., City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA. ASCO Abstract #504 Publication Year: 1998
  Breast reconstruction and Inflammatory Breast Cancer
• EVALUATION OF PACLITAXEL (P) IN THE MULTIMODALITY TREATMENT APPROACH OF INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER (IBC). THE MD ANDERSON EXPERIENCE. M. Cristofanilli, A.U. Buzdar, B. Wasaff, L. Asmar, S.E. Singletary, M. McNeese, E. Strom, G.N. Hortobagyi. Dept. of Breast Med. Oncology; Dept. Surgical Oncology; Dept. of Radiotherapy-University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. ASCO abstract #452 Publication Year: 1998
  The use of Taxol (Paclitaxel) in IBC
• Long Term Results of Intensive Chemotherapy with Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation (ABTM) for Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). Henri H. Roche, Christine C. Chevreau, Jeanne J. Mihura, Jean-michel J.M. Reme, Thomas T. Facchini, Alain A. Marre, Laurence L. Gladieff, Francoise F. Bonnet, Roland R. Bugat. Institut C. Regaud, Toulouse, France.; Radiotherapy, CHG, Rodez, France. ASCO #321 Publication Year: 1999
  High Dose Chemotherapy and IBC
• Two-Day Epirubicin (E) Plus Paclitaxel (P) as First Line Chemotherapy for Stage IIIB--IV Breast Cancer (BC). A. Astone, A. Ferro, P. Fedele, M.R. Noviello, G. Alvaro, V. Sciacca, C. Barone. Universit· Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Istituto di Medicina Interna e Geriatria. Roma, Italy. ASCO  #454 Publication Year: 1999
  Epirubicin and Taxol(Paclitaxel) in IBC
• Loss of imprinting of H19 and IGF2 genes is associated with inflammatory breast cancer. J.C. Ahomadegbe, S. Tourpin, M. Spielmann and G. Riou. Institut G. Roussy, Villejuif, France. ASCO Abstract#1954, 1997
  Are there genes associated with IBC?

Non-medical treatment

• Siegel, Bernie S.  Love, Medicine and Miracles. Harper& Row, New York.
  A classic book on self-healing through mental techniques.
• Siegel, Bernie S.  Peace, Love and Healing. Harper &Row, New York.
  Follow-up to Love, Medicine and Miracles.
• Simonton, O. Carl.  Getting Well Again. Bantam Books, NewYork.
  Old, but important book. This was the book that first made people aware of the importance of mental techniques and support groups in healing.
• Weil, Andrew.  Spontaneous Healing. Ballantine Books, NewYork.
  "How to discover and enhance your body's natural ability to maintain and heal itself".
• Coping Magazine
  Information and survival stories on all types of cancer. Email Copingmag@aol.com or call(615) 790-2400 in North America for more information.

Caregivers

• TakingTime
  Published by the National Institutes of Health National CancerInstitute.Deals with care issues from the patient's and the caregiver'sperspectives.
  -- http://wwwicic.nci.nih.gov/taking_time/timeintro.html
• When the woman you love has breast cancer
  Booklet published by the Y-Me organization.
  -- http://www.y-me.org
• Care for the Family/Friend Caregiver
  A leaflet I found giving some bullet point tips for caregivers.
  -- http://www.bestiary.com/ibc/care2.html

How to get Journal Articles

Traditional Methods

Libraries will often have copies of the journals cited; if not, they can usually arrange inter-library loans. This is usually the cheapest way of getting hold of articles, but it can be slow. Check with the library to see if you're allowed to photocopy articles for your own personal use: the laws can vary between countries.

Medline

It is possible to get medical journal articles over the Internet through a service called Medline. You can get article abstracts for free, and they send you photocopies of the articles at US$8 each (plus copyright fees in some cases).

There are several places that let you search Medline. We use PubMed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/.

Generally, Medline works like an Internet search engine such as Altavista,except that it searches a database of journal articles. For example, if you tell it to search for "inflammatory+breast+cancer", it will find about 250 articles, sort them according to relevance, and give you the titles. Then you can click on the titles to see the article abstract, and order the article if you have a credit card.

The Medline abstract database is distributed on CD-ROM, and many universities also provide search facilities. If you have access to a university computer system, you should see whether you can get local access.

Metastatic Breast Cancer

There are two main mailing lists relating to metastatic breast cancer:

• BCMets is open to anyone, and it gets about 20 posts a day.
• Club Mets is only open to people with metastatic breast cancer.

Becky Rosen put together the form for getting Miltex (a skin mets drug) under the compassionate use program: you can get it in PDF or Microsoft Word format.

BrainMetsBC is a site for people dealing with brain and other central nervous system mets from breast cancer.