What Happens

• Breast cancer occurs when breast cells start growing abnormally, dividing and multiplying, growing faster than the healthy breast cells do. The cells create a tumor, which can metastasize (spread) throughout the breast and to the lymph nodes and other parts of the body. Breast cancer most often begins in the milk-producing duct cells. This is called invasive ductal carcinoma. It can also start in the lobules or in the cells within the breast. When cancer starts in the lobules, this is called lobular carcinoma.
  
  

Symptoms

• Symptoms of breast cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic, can include a change in the shape or size of a breast, bloody discharge from the nipple, a thickening of the breast or a lump that feels different from the tissue that surrounds it, peeling or flaking of the nipple skin, a dimple of the breast skin, an inverted nipple or redness or pitting of the breast skin. Healthline.com adds that other symptoms can include the development of an orange-peel-like texture to the breast skin, pain, breast tenderness, vaginal pain, unintentional weight loss, decreased libido, visible veins on the breasts and enlarged lymph nodes in the armpits.
  
  

Stages

• Advanced breast cancer is characterized by the swelling of the arm next to the breast that is cancerous, skin ulcers, bone pain and breast pain.
  
  

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

• According to the Mayo Clinic, a form of the disease called inflammatory breast cancer is rare. This disease accounts for 1 to 6 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States. This form of breast cancer develops rapidly and is aggressive. It is the type of cancer that can spread from its site or origin to nearby tissue, including lymph nodes. The affected breast will become red, swollen and tender.
  
  

Features

• Inflammatory breast cancer does not necessarily announce itself through a lump or suspicious area that is seen or felt during a routine exam or mammogram. Rather it manifests via swelling and discoloration. This occurs because the dividing tumor cells block lymphatic vessels in the skin. Fluid then backs up and swelling results.
  
  

Presentation

• The name of this condition is a misnomer because it doesn't cause inflammation in the same way that a regular infection does. The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include an unusual feeling of warmth in the affected breast; thickness, visible enlargement or heaviness of one breast; discoloration (red, pink, purple or bruised looking); quick change in the look of one breast over the course of a few days or weeks; aching, pain or tenderness in the breast; dimpling or ridges on the skin of the breast (the orange peel texture that was described earlier); itching; enlarged lymph nodes; change in the color of the areola (the area around the nipples); swollen or crusty skin on the nipple; and flattening or inversion of the nipple.