Stage III Inflammatory Breast Cancer Diagnosed After Severe Breast Pain and Swelling Following Mammography

What happened, in summary

A 60-year-old woman underwent a screening mammogram in October 2008 after normal self-examinations and no abnormal findings on the pre-examination check. During compression of the left breast she experienced severe pain. Soon afterward, swelling, bruising and a lump developed and remained painful. Over the following months, the breast mass enlarged rapidly. By February, physical examination measured it at 9 by 11 cm. The cancer was diagnosed as Stage III inflammatory breast carcinoma, with ER and PR negative and strongly HER2-positive disease. She began 8 cycles of doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and docetaxel, followed by trastuzumab. She also received 28 radiation treatments. Mastectomy in October 2009 showed a 5 cm inflammatory carcinoma with microscopic infiltrating ductal carcinoma, and 2 of 3 lymph nodes contained cancer. In early 2011, malignant lesions appeared along the mastectomy scar. Trastuzumab plus vinorelbine produced complete disappearance of the lesions, but another scar recurrence was later removed while treatment continued. The disease eventually became metastatic. She decided against further active treatment and died of progressive disease in 2012.