Challenging a Misnomer? The Role of Inflammatory Pathways in Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Table 1

Largest and recent retrospective series of patients with IBC. N, number of patients included in the series; RT, radiotherapy; LRFI, local recurrence-free interval; DFI, disease-free interval; DDFI, distant disease-free interval; OS, overall survival; pCR, pathological complete response; HR+ve, hormone receptor positive; HER2−ve, HER2 negative; LRFS, local relapse-free survival; Mx, mastectomy; BCSS, breast cancer-specific survival; TNBC, triple-negative breast cancer; NAC, neoadjuvant chemotherapy; CT, chemotherapy.

Reference	Study population	N	Outcome
Abrous-Anane et al. 2011; [138]	Single institution, IBC patients 1985–1999; all received NAC followed by; either surgery, RT, or surgery + RT. All patients received anthracycline-based chemotherapy but only 16% received a taxane.	232	At 10 years follow-up, LRFI was 78% surgery versus 59% radiotherapy-only group; DFI 26%, DDFI 37% and OS 38%. No significant differences in OS, DFI, or DDFI between the exclusive RT and surgery groups (, , and , resp.).
Masuda et al. 2014; [139]	MD Anderson series, IBC patients 1989–2011, all received NAC. 17% received anthracycline; 72% anthracycline + taxane, 3% taxane, 9% taxane + trastuzumab. 55% of HER2+ve patients received trastuzumab. 86% received neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant RT.	527	pCR rate (stage III IBC) 15.2% (only 7.5% in HR+ve, HER2−ve while 30.6% in HR−ve, HER2+ve); TNBC worst survival. Factors associated longer DFS and OS: pCR, no evidence of vascular invasion, non-TNBC, adjuvant hormonal therapy, RT.
Panades et al. 2005; [140]	British Columbia series, IBC patients 1980–2000.	485	Among patients treated with curative intent, median BCSS 3.2 years; 10 yr LRFS for patients having Mx after CT, Mx before CT, and without Mx was 62.8%, 58.6%, and 34.4%, respectively (); 10 year BCSS was 36.9%, 19.9%, and 22.5%, respectively ().
Do Nascimento et al. 2016; [141]	Single institution, IBC patients 2001–2010; 41% HER2+ve, 18% TNBC; 77% had early disease at diagnosis.	57	35/44 underwent surgery and 16 are relapse-free. 6/44 achieved pCR; median survival in 13 patients with metastatic disease at diagnosis was 21.7 months.
Bonev et al. 2014; [142]	Single institution, IBC patients 2002–2006 receiving NAC (AC-T) +; trastuzumab (if HER2+ve) + bevacizumab (if HER2−ve).	24	29% partial Mx and 71% Mx. OS partial mastectomy 59% and for Mx 57%; (), respectively, at a median follow-up of 60 months.
Gogia et al. 2014; [143]	Single institution India, 2004–2012; stages III and IV. All nonmetastatic IBC patients received anthracycline and/ or taxane-based chemotherapy followed by modified radical Mx, RT. No trastuzumab.	41	pCR 15%. At a median follow-up of 30 months, the 3-year relapse-free survival 30% and OS 40%.
Matro et al. 2015; [10]	Multi-institutional study, IBC patients 1999–2009; 29% had metastatic; disease at presentation.	673	Median survival 66 months for stage III and 26 months for stage IV. Among 82% of stage III patients receiving multimodality therapy, the median survival was 107 months.