Inflammatory breast cancer: a review.

PURPOSE: The natural history of inflammatory breast cancer and the recent advances in its management were reviewed. DESIGN: The English medical literature from 1924 to 1990 was reviewed using the Cancerline and Medline retrieval systems, and through a manual review of bibliographies of identified articles. RESULTS: The majority of patients with inflammatory breast cancer treated only with local therapies died 18 to 24 months after diagnosis. A combined modality approach with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy has improved disease-free and overall survival rates for inflammatory breast cancer. Approximately 35% to 55% of patients treated with combined modality regimens remain disease-free and alive at 5 years. CONCLUSION: Induction combination chemotherapy administered with radiation therapy, mastectomy, both, or with additional chemotherapy favorably alters the natural history of inflammatory breast cancer. New drug combinations and high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow support are being evaluated to improve further patient survival.