Rare breast cancer victim 'lucky'
Tina received a rude shock when she was told by her doctor that she had inflammatory breast cancer two years ago.
She had thought her breast cancer nightmare was over after undergoing radiotherapy for Stage 0 breast cancer in 2001. Tina then turned to the Web to learn more about inflammatory breast cancer.
Tina, who is in her 40s, is telling her story to increase awareness of the rare breast cancer. It does not show up in a mammography and spreads so fast that death can come within months.
'I am a very lucky patient' for overcoming two forms of breast cancer, she said.
Breast cancer is the No1 cancer affecting Hong Kong women, afflicting 65 per 100,000, according to 2004 figures from the Hospital Authority. It is not known how many cases involve inflammatory breast cancer, which experts say makes up 1 to 3 per cent of all breast cancers.
The Department of Health said inflammatory breast cancer was 'a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin'.
It gets its name because the breast often looks 'swollen and red or inflamed. Other symptoms include ridges or pitted skin and inverted nipples'.
Tina noticed worrying changes in her breast. 'I felt that my breast began to swell a bit, it became more swollen. It was so gradual.' She went to her doctor, who at first thought it was just an inflammation and prescribed antibiotics. She had an MRI, but nothing abnormal was detected.
Afterwards, the doctor noticed her lymph nodes were swollen and took a needle aspiration. When it came back negative, the doctor decided on an open biopsy so that tissues could be taken and tested. It was only then that inflammatory breast cancer was diagnosed.
'You have to be a good doctor; otherwise, it would have dragged on for a long time. It can take your life in a few months,' Tina said. When the diagnosis was made, she was already in Stage 3. She had chemotherapy and a mastectomy.
Surgeon Polly Cheung Suk-yee said she had come across four patients with inflammatory breast cancer, all of whom survived.
The five-year survival rate was 30 to 40 per cent, lower than that for typical breast cancer, which was 50 to 70 per cent. 'It is very aggressive. I had a patient who was treated with antibiotics and within a week it rapidly spread,' she said.
'My advice is for women to be familiar with their breasts. If they see sudden changes in size, sudden changes in their breasts, they should be alert and see a doctor quickly.'
Cancer specialist Kevin Loh Kai-su said newer drugs that targeted human epidermal growth factor receptor-2, which promoted the growth of cancer cells, 'are very effective against inflammatory breast cancer'.
A big killer
Breast cancer is the most prevalent form among women in Hong Kong
Breast cancer cases in 2004 2,273
SOURCE: HONG KONG CANCER REGISTERY
