Inflammatory breast cancer in the Netherlands; improved survival over the last decades

A bstract Purpose Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) includes inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) as well as non-inflammatory LABC (NI-LABC). The aim of this population-based study was to compare the tumour characteristics, treatment and relative survival of IBC and NI-LABC patients. Methods Patients with either IBC (cT4d) or NI-LABC (cT4a–c) were identified from the nationwide Netherlands Cancer Registry from the period 1989–2015. In each group, patients are divided into three time periods in order to perform a trend analysis: 1989–1997, 1998–2006, and 2007–2015. Results IBC comprised 1.1% and NI-LABC 4.6% of all diagnosed breast cancer patients. IBC patients showed more nodal metastases (77.8 vs. 69.7%, P