Last fall, law librarian Marilyn Coon noticed that her right breast became itchy, red and painful. She saw both a gynecologist and a primary care physician.

Video: Aggressive Breast Cancer Can Go Undetected

"They kind of treated it like it was an inflammation or a bruise," Coon said. "Nothing serious, nothing to check out further."

Coon, who has a family album filled with pictures of her 52 active years, was reassured, so it was months before she saw another doctor, NBC5 HealthWatch reporter Nesita Kwan reported.

"So I went to a dermatologist who took one look at it and said, 'I think you should see a surgeon right away,'" Coon said.

The surgeon told Coon that despite her monthly breast exams and yearly mammograms -- which detected nothing -- she had an aggressive form of breast cancer.

That is the danger of Inflammatory Breast Cancer, or IBC. It's uncommon -- affecting 3 to 5 percent of women with breast cancer. While it is very aggressive, its symptoms are often subtle and atypical. There is not a lump, but there is a rash, redness, itching and a hardness -- things a family doctor might miss.

"Sometimes it's missed for an extended period of time," said Dr. William Gradishar of Northwestern University. "And the fact that biologically it's aggressive creates a bad clinical situation for the patient."

Gradishar said it is very important for women and their doctors to follow up on the symptoms, even if they seem minor. Judy Leonard said following up saved her life.

While her check ups are now clear, Leonard said five years ago, she went to another doctor with a bumpy rash on the right side of her chest. He gave her an antibiotic, but told her to come back in a week. She did, and then went straight to a surgeon.

Now, after chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, her family and friends celebrate the fact that she has survived the diagnosis by five years. Leonard is often on the phone to Coon, who is going through a second round of chemotherapy. Both women said they are committed to warning other women that mammograms alone may not detect this breast cancer.

"If maybe one or two other people just think about breast cancer -- [it] isn't always a lump," Leonard said.

---

For more information about the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, visit our News Links page.