"My mother had inflammatory breast cancer. How should I monitor myself for this type of breast cancer?"
I get lots of e-mails like this one from women inquiring about the best method to self-monitor for a specific type of breast cancer.
The type of breast cancer a family member has isn't passed down through the generations. It is the BRCA 1 or 2 gene that's hereditary.
Women who have this gene may develop breast cancer of any one of several types, not just one specific type. For example, if you have a first-degree relative who had lobular invasive breast cancer and you also get breast cancer, it doesn't mean your cancer would necessarily be lobular invasive, too.
About 70 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer get invasive ductal carcinoma, 15-20 percent get invasive lobular cancer, and only 1-2 percent develop inflammatory breast cancer. There are a few other types as well.
All women should be monitoring themselves for breast changes in general. Don't get hung up on the type of breast cancer someone else in your family had. Every day we learn new information about the prognosis for genetically linked breast cancers.
In the near future, we'll be hearing about published studies focusing on hormone receptors and Her2neu, as well as other information that will help us to detect more accurately whether someone's breast cancer has a genetic cause.