Breast Cancer Stages

On being diagnosed with breast cancer your doctor then proceeds to find out which stage it is in. The stages of breast cancer are often determined by the size of affected cells i.e.

the tumor or by whether it is invasive or noninvasive, whether it has affected the lymph nodes or not and/or whether the cancerous cells have affected body parts beyond the breast. Staging is used by doctors to determine the extent the disease has spread.

This can help in determining the further course of action/treatment and it could even help other doctors to understand the extent of the cancer as this is a common method used world-wide and hence can be used for comparison and understanding.

‘Stage 0’ is the first stage which indicates that the tumor is noninvasive. Usually the DCIS – Ductal Carcinoma In Situ and LCIS- Lobular Carcinoma In Situ are in Stage 0. It ensures a 100% rate of survival as this condition can be treated with ease. ‘Stage I’ denotes the invasive cancer in the early stages where the tumor may be just about 2 centimeters and has not affected the lymph nodes.

‘Stage II’ is further divided in ‘Stage IIA’ where the tumor is less than 2 centimeters and has infiltrated into a minimum of 3 axillary underarm lymph nodes or the tumor may be about 2 to 5 centimeters and has not spread to the lymph nodes. In ‘Stage IIB’ the tumor will about 2 to 5 centimeters and has spread to the surrounding lymph nodes. Sometimes the tumor may be more than 5 centimeters but may still not spread to the lymph nodes around.

‘Stage III’ is divided into 3 stages. In ‘Stage IIIA’ the tumor is not found in the breast but in the axillary lymph nodes stuck to other structures. It may measure up to 5 centimeters or more. In ‘Stage IIIB’ the tumor may not be of a definite size but is spread to the skin wall and/or the chest wall. It usually includes the inflammatory breast cancer. In ‘Stage IIIC’ there may be no sign of cancer and if there is it may be of any size and might have possibly spread to the lymph nodes, collarbone etc.

In ‘Stage IV’ the cancer spreads to the lungs, bone, brain or even the liver.