Survival Analysis of Patients with Inflammatory Breast Cancer in Relation to Clinical and Histopathological Characteristics

PURPOSE: To evaluate the survival of patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and to correlate these survival rates with the histopathological parameters found in the resection specimen of the tumor. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was based on 27 patients that had been diagnosed and had undergone surgery in the 2nd General and Oncological Surgery Clinic of the County Emergency Hospital in Timisoara, Romania. Data about the patient group were collected from archived patient files over a period of eight years starting from January 2008. The collected data regarded age, tumor size and histopathological type and immunohistochemistry (IHC), presence or absence of tumor embolus in lymphatic or blood vessels and the presence or absence of distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. We evaluated the impact of tumor characteristics on the patients’ outcome. RESULTS: The 12-month survival rates postsurgery were significantly increased if tumors were <5 cm compared to those >5 cm (p=0.046), if nodal status was N0 vs N1–2 (p=0.039), as well as in cases where distant metastases were absent, compared to patients with distant metastases (p=0.001, α=0.001) and positive-hormone receptors (p=0.043). Survival was influenced neither by histopathological type (p=0.357) nor by the presence of tumor embolus in the resection specimen (p=0.250) and HER2 status (p=0.763). Survival at 12 months after surgery was equal between those with stage IIIB noninflammatory breast cancer (NIBC) and IBC. At 24 months after surgery, IBC cases presented a significantly lower probability of survival. CONCLUSION: The prognosis of patients with IBC is reserved compared to NIBC, increased tumor size, positive lymph node, hormone receptors negative cases and distant metastases drastically decreasing survival rates.