Here is the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s 2018 online booklet for Breast Cancer (Invasive). You can download it, print it, make notes, and share it on social media. Inflammatory breast cancer is not mentioned in the table of contents, but a search for the word “inflammatory” will show several pages where inflammatory breast cancer is mentioned.
Inflammatory breast cancer is a type of invasive breast cancer. Invasive breast cancer is not the same as metastatic breast cancer. These terms can be confusing!
The National Cancer Institute’s Dictionary of Cancer Terms defines invasive breast cancer as: “Cancer that has spread from where it began in the breast to surrounding normal tissue. The most common type of invasive breast cancer is invasive ductal carcinoma, which begins in the lining of the milk ducts (thin tubes that carry milk from the lobules of the breast to the nipple). Another type is invasive lobular carcinoma, which begins in the lobules (milk glands) of the breast. Invasive breast cancer can spread through the blood and lymph systems to other parts of the body. Also called infiltrating breast cancer.”