Mammography in inflammatory breast carcinoma

Inflammatory breast carcinoma develops in 1.5%-4% of breast cancer patients and is the most lethal type. Systemic chemotherapy before and after mastectomy is essential for improved survival. Diagnosis prior to surgery helps ensure optimal management and therapy. Since dermal lymphatic carcinomatosis is diagnostic, identification of skin thickening on mammograms may lead the clinical to obtain a skin biopsy in conjunction with the breast biopsy. The mammograms of 21 patients with inflammatory breast carcinoma showed skin thickening in all, a reticular pattern in 95%, increased breast density in 81%, suspicious calcification in 33%, and a mass in 24%