Stages Of Breast Cancer

If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, in order to effectively plan your treatment, your oncologist will need to determine to which one of possible breast cancer stages your particular case applies. As the name suggests, breast cancer staging designates the process of defining the stage of breast cancer in question, or put differently, to determine the size and location of the cancer tumor, the number of lymph nodes that have been attacked by the cancerous mass and how far the cancer tumor has affected distant organs throughout entire body.

This comprehensive and in-depth section is created with holding in mind the necessity of your learning as much as possible about different breast cancer stages, including stage 1 breast cancer, stage 2 breast cancer, stage 3 breast cancer and stage 4 breast cancer, which are primarily described by using roman numerals (i.e., stage IV breast cancer or breast cancer in stage IV), along with breast cancer stage terminology, symptoms of the early stage of breast cancer and the end stage of breast cancer, advanced breast cancer stages and treatments, breast cancer final stages, progression causes and mechanisms, breast cancer stage survival rate statistics, etc.

Since breast cancer stage is one of the most important factors that modern medicine relies for the accurate and precise breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis, significant attention was given to developing an effective system for classifying cancers. Nowadays, all stages of breast cancer, which signify the size, location and extent of breast cancer, are described with the use of TNM staging system, which is based on cancer T, N and M characteristics, which make it possible to easily compare patient subdivisions and exchange data between oncologists.

The TNM cancer classification is based on the results of physical breast exams, imaging tests and sometimes surgery. The primary approach to breast cancer staging in accordance to the TNM staging system signifies that T stands for the size of the cancer tumor and whether it has spread beyond its original location towards nearby organs; N refers to the number of lymph nodes attacked by the cancerous mass; and M designates its metastasis or spreading to distant organs.

The letter T is followed by a number from 0 to 4, which describes the size of cancer tumor and how far it has spread to the skin surface or chest wall under the breast. The letter N is followed by a number from 0 to 3, depending on whether the tumor has affected chest lymph nodes, and whether they are fixed to other structures under the arm. And finally, the letter M is followed by either 0 or 1 which indicates whether the cancer has metastasized to distant bones, lungs, liver etc. or signifies the number of affected lymph nodes which are not next to the breast, thus being referred to as distant lymph nodes as well.

In such a way, speaking of breast cancer in stage 3 (also referred to as stage 3 breast cancer or stage III breast cancer) which may be described with, say, T3 N2 M0, the cancer tumor is larger than 5 cm and has spread to 4 to 9 auxiliary lymph nodes under the arm, but no distant spread is observed. In the same manner, stage 4 breast cancer (breast cancer in stage IV or stage IV breast cancer) may be classified by T4, N3, M1: the cancer, regardless of its size, is growing into the chest wall or skin, has affected 10 or more lymph nodes under the arm or also involves lymph nodes in other areas around the breast, and has spread to distant organs.

To learn more about available techniques and methods for detecting early and advanced breast cancer stages, along with end stage breast cancer symptoms and breast cancer final stages, progression mechanisms of cancer and its spreading out, breast cancer stage survival rate statistics, curable breast cancer stage periods and breast cancer stages when it is late enough for not actually the treatment, but symptom relief to become a priority, take all advantages of our reliable guide, check our qualified experts' advices and recommendations and make sure you know everything what you need to know about every breast cancer stage in order to plan a better treatment and improve your chances to survive this dreadful disease.