1938: Taylor and Meltzer described dermal lympatic invasion as “pathologic proof” of inflammatory carcinoma: noted two forms, primary and secondary
“Inflammatory carcinoma of the breast” Am J Cancer 1938:33:33-49.
“The breast of the affected side usually increases in size; this enlargement is more often diffuse, as the disease progresses the skin become deep red or reddish-purple, and to the touch is brawny and infiltrated. The inflamed areas present a distinct raised periphery after the fashion of erysipelas. The examiner, with his eyes closed can distinguish the sharp contrast between normal and affected tissue” comment on Taylor and Meltzer from a paper in 2001.
1972: Inflammatory carcinoma of the breast in a 12-year-old girl.
Arch Surg 1972 Sep;105(3):505-8, Nichini, FM, et al., no abstract available
“Carcinoma of the breast in the female child and adolescent is extremely rare. Approximately a dozen cases below the age of 20 can be accepted as truly proved. The case presented here is of further interest, since we believe it to be the first so-called inflammatory breast carcinoma described in a child. The lesion progressed rapidly locally with skin erythema, edema, and fixation over half the breast. The affected breast was enlarged and generally replaced by tumor with fixation to the chest wall; a single ipsilateral axillary node was present. Treatment with radiotherapy produced temporary local control. Spread followed to the contralateral breast and ovaries. Progression of the disease was not checked despite bilateral oophorectomy and chemotherapy. Mammography and thermography were helpful in confirming clinical impressions.”
“Report of a Case: A 12-year-old girl consulted her family physician for a cutaneous eruption of the whole body, which was diagnosed as a viral exanthem. Results of physical examination at that time revealed a mass in the upper part of the left breast above a partially retracted nipple, and a definite enlargement of the left breast relative to the right.”
“Neither the patient nor her mother was aware of any abnormality in the breast at the time of the consultation. Two days later, a biopsy was performed and the mass was reported as an infiltrating carcinoma.”
“The skin over the whole left breast was erythematous and edematous, with all the clinical signs of an inflammatory carcinoma … It should be pointed out that the patient had been menstruating, albeit irregularly, since the age of 11.”
“The sections of breast tissue stained with hematoxylin-eosin exhibited many nests and cords of neoplastic epithelial cells not only infiltrating a desmoplastic breast stroma but also infiltrating and plugging dilated lymphatic channels. This feature was especially prominent within the deep breast parenchyma and is similar to the more characteristic dermal lymphatic plugging seen in classic inflammatory carcinoma. The microscopic finding, combined with the classic gross lesion, were compatible with inflammatory carcinoma of the breast.”
1973: Sex chromatin (Barr body) and inflammatory carcinoma of the breast.
Biomedicine 1973 Feb 10;19(2):65-7, Gros, C, et al., no abstract available
1974: Inflammatory carcinoma of the breast. A pathologic definition
Cancer 1974 Apr;33(4):1045-7, Ellis, DL, et al., no abstract available
1974: Clinically occult inflammatory carcinoma of the breast.
Cancer 1974 Aug;34(2):382-8, Saltzstein, SL., no abstract available
1977: Clinical and prognostic features of a rapidly progressing breast cancer in Tunisia.
Cancer 1977 Jul;40(1):376-82, Tabbane, F. et al.
“Clinical and radiographic examination of 581 patients with histologically verified breast cancer has permitted us to define a subgroup having a significantly poorer prognosis than other patients. Their condition, called “poussee evolutive” (rapidly progressing), is characterized by rapid tumor growth and/or inflammation adjacent to the tumor. Statistical analysis of the survival of M0 patients (412 of the 581) shows that the diagnosis of “poussee evolutive” provides prognostic information beyond that given by T and N classifications and after delay between initial symptoms and diagnosis have been considered. Six years of clinical experience with this condition are discussed.”
1978: Inflammatory carcinoma of the breast.
Cancer 1978 Apr;41(4):1595-605, Lucas FV, et al.
“Fifty-eight patients with clinical inflammatory breast carcinoma and 15 patients with “occult” inflammatory cancer (dermal lymphatic carcinomatosis without clinical inflammation) are grouped and reviewed to determine whether diagnosis is pathologic or clinical. All cases represent a retrospective study of records from the Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital, Columbia, Missouri. Lesions of clinically apparent and occult inflammatory carcinoma demonstrate similar gross and microscopic growth patterns, histologic types, axillary involvement and early widespread metastases. Regardless of pathologic evidence of dermal lymphatic tumor, patients with clinical inflammation had rapid deterioration. Cases with only a pathological diagnosis were slightly less fulminant in progression. Either clinical or pathologic criteria justify use of the term “inflammatory breast carcinoma” to indicate short-term prognosis despite available treatment.”
1978: Rapidly progressing breast cancer (poussee evolutive) in Tunisia: studies on delayed hypersensitivity.
Int J Cancer 1978 Jul 15;22(1):1-3, Mourali, N, et al.
“Delayed hypersensitivity reactions to a battery of antigens were measured in 145 Tunisian breast cancer patients to determine whether an immunologic mechanism could be detected which might explain the high frequency (60%) of the rapidly progressing form in Tunisian breast cancer patients. Although a greater proportion (30%) of patients with rapily progressing breast cancer reacted to extracts of a breast tumor antigen (2937) than patients without PEV (9%), no significnat difference between PEV and non-PEV patients could be found in reactivity to DNCB, standard microbial antigens, or extracts from tissue culture cell lines. Rapidly progressing breast cancer in Tunisia is not associated with an impairment of delayed hypersensitivity.“
