COLUMBUS, Ohio - While self-exams are important to help identify signs of breast cancer, not all forms begin with a lump, including a particularly aggressive type of the disease known as inflammatory breast cancer.In fact, most women are unaware of the unusual signs and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer, which can include redness of the breast, thickening of the skin, or one breast feeling warmer and heavier than the other, according to a new national U.S.
survey conducted just ahead of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The deadly yet rare form of the disease doesn’t look like typical breast cancer because it frequently doesn't cause a breast lump, and it is not commonly picked up by a mammogram, according to the American Cancer Society and the IBC Network Foundation, which offers research and support for patients.
It also tends to grow and spread more quickly compared to other types of cancer, often in a matter of days or weeks.FILE - A woman with the help of a nurse gets a mammogram on International Breast Cancer Day on Oct.
19, 2021, in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. (Photo By Eduardo Briones/Europa Press via Getty Images) Patients are Stage III or Stage IV when diagnosed, depending on whether cancer cells have spread only to nearby lymph nodes or to other tissues as well.Inflammatory breast cancer only represents 1% to 5% of all breast cancers in the United States.