Aug. 20, 2025
While inflammatory breast cancer accounts for less than 4% of all breast cancers, it makes up 10% of all deaths from breast cancer. This rare, aggressive breast cancer often comes with symptoms that mimic inflammation of the breast, such as a change in skin color, warmth of the skin and peau d'orange, which is orange peel-like skin. As a result, up to 37% of inflammatory breast cancers are misdiagnosed as cellulitis, infection or other more benign conditions. The time needed for an accurate diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer can be detrimental to treatment.
Mayo Clinic's new multidisciplinary inflammatory breast cancer clinic
As the lead physician for the soon-to-open Multidisciplinary Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Arizona, Shakeela W. Bahadur, M.D., a medical oncologist, is assembling a team of experts from across treatment disciplines to work alongside researchers seeking new care options for patients with this aggressive form of cancer.
"The goal of the multidisciplinary clinic is to have patients seen by all treating physicians in a coordinated fashion. Through our program, we aim to do this very quickly because of the urgency of treating this condition," says Dr. Bahadur. "By bringing everyone together, we can expedite care while having all the input from experts in their fields. Patients benefit by hearing from everyone at the same time."
Specialists from medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology and radiology work together in the clinic and are available to see patients at the same time. They also collaborate with healthcare professionals outside of the clinic, including those from disciplines such as genetic counseling, pathology, social work, occupational and physical therapy, psychotherapy, and integrative medicine, to offer comprehensive support to patients.
"A collaborative approach is important for inflammatory breast cancer because of this disease's speed of onset and aggressiveness," says Sarah E. James, M.D., Ph.D., a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. "It is not the type of disease that is forgiving to missteps in management. When you have multiple specialists weighing in together, you are more likely to have the correct approach from the beginning."
While more-standard forms of breast cancer may not require all types of available treatments, inflammatory breast cancer is typically treated with everything offered. Care usually begins with chemotherapies before turning to local treatment. Surgery includes a modified radical mastectomy, typically followed by radiation that is inclusive of the chest wall and regional lymphatics. This aggressive approach is critical to disease control for cancer that can metastasize in a matter of weeks or months.
"Because inflammatory breast cancer is rare, there may be confusion over how best to treat it," says Dr. James. "When you're seen at Mayo Clinic, where we commonly see uncommon things like inflammatory breast cancer, outcomes are better for these patients."
Long-term considerations for inflammatory breast cancer
This comprehensive care doesn't stop when patients with inflammatory breast cancer go into remission.
"Inflammatory breast cancer tends to impact younger patients," says Dr. James. "We are always thinking of how we can do a better job of disease control while also decreasing toxicity of treatments, including long-term control, survival and improving quality of life."
Though many of the newer treatment options for breast cancer have improved outcomes for patients, they don't have a measurable impact on survival for inflammatory breast cancer, which remains around 30%. Similarly, patients with inflammatory breast cancer are often excluded from clinical trials, limiting access to promising treatment options. That's why, in addition to building the clinic, Dr. Bahadur is expanding research by building a tumor registry and tissue bank in collaboration with basic scientists. Through this work, including studying genomics and the microenvironment of these cancers, researchers hope to find more-targeted personalized therapies for patients with inflammatory breast cancer.
This collaboration between researchers and clinicians from many disciplines extends to every aspect of patient care. A hallmark of Mayo Clinic's multidisciplinary approach is the way healthcare professionals readily communicate with one another through specialty tumor boards to offer patients the best treatment plans in a timely manner.
"Our goal in our new clinic is to get each new patient a multidisciplinary consult within three days of their referral," says Dr. Bahadur. "If you're on your own, trying to put together these pieces can be quite overwhelming. That's why we have the resources to get patients in quickly with coordinated consultations that make a difference for them."
For more information
Refer a patient to Mayo Clinic.