Determining the breast cancer stages is important
since it enables the patient and doctor to identify the treatment
necessary for one’s condition. Also, it is essential in assessing the
risk of the given condition and what lifestyle changes the patient can
do to improve their health.
Identifying A Breast Cancer's Stage
When talking about breast cancer stages, it is aimed at describing the
extent of the cancer in the body. So, if you ask how a breast cancer is
staged, doctors often start to classify whether it is invasive or
non-invasive. Other factors considered are the tumor size, number of
nymph modes involved, and what other parts of the body it has managed
to affect.
Determining a cancer's stage is helpful during prognosis and deciding
on a treatment option.
To determine the stage, a few standard procedures are done by the
doctor on a patient. They undergo physical exam and biopsy to acquire
the data needed by the doctor for the diagnosis.
If needed, further tests are also conducted such as imaging tests that
include x-ray, bone scans, mammograms for the breasts, CT scans,
positron emission tomography (PET), and magentic resonance imaging.
What Are the Breast Cancer Stages?
Now that the importance of determining the different breast cancer
stages have been clarified, as well as the methods used to identify
them, it is now time to move on to discussing each of the stages. Take
note of the features and extent of the cancer in each of the stages:
Breast Cancer Stage 0
This stage renders the case of breast cancer to be non-invasive. At
this point of the breast cancer, cancer or non-cancerous cells cannot
be detected yet.
The abnormal cells are still at the stage wherein they try to spread
out within the specific part of the breast where the cells are rooted.
Also, they can try to expand on the neighboring tissues as the
cancerous cells continue to grow.
Breast Cancer Stage I
Once the breast cancer enters this stage, it is now categorized as an
invasive type of breast cancer. Meaning, the cancer cells have now
worked their way towards the neighboring tissues. Stage I breast cancer
also exhibit the following characteristics:
• The cancerous tumor has reached the size of 2 centimeters.
• No lymph modes are affected.
Breast Cancer Stage II
For this particular stage of breast cancer, it is also known as an
invasive type of cancer and is broken down into two more categories:
1) Stage IIA
Even in this particular stage, the conditions can be different:
• A tumor does not exist in the breast but cancerous cells are detected
in the lymph nodes.
• A tumor could exist but measures less than 2 centimeters;
• The tumor has expanded beyond 2 centimeters but less than 5
centimeters without reaching the lymph nodes.
2) Stage IIB
This invasive level of the cancer are recognized as either one of the
following:
• The tumor exceeds 2 centimeters in size but less than 5 centimeters,
while also reaching the lymph nodes.
• The tumor is more than 5 centimeters in size but has not yet reached
the axillary lymph nodes.
Breast Cancer Stage III
1) Stage IIIA
In this stage, the tumor could either be detected or not. Aside from
the axillary lymph nodes, cancer can also stick to other structures
outside of the lymph nodes and become clumped together.
2) Stage IIIB
In this stage, the tumor can grow in size and affect other areas of the
body outside of the actual breast, whether th chest wall or skin of the
breast. This is the stage wherein inflammatory breast cancer takes
place.
3) Stage IIIC
In some cases, sign of breast cancer might not be detectable yet.
However, the tumor could already be spreading towards the breast skin,
chest wall, and below your collarbone.
Breast Cancer Stage IV
In this level, the cancerous cells have managed to spread to various
organs of the body. Therefore, the cancer is no longer restricted on
the breast and lymph nodes, which signifies the initial diagnosis of
breast cancer. The reason why diagnosis is done only during this stage
is because cancerous cells were not detected while still within the
breast.
Recognizing breast cancer stages does more than just identifying
treatment options, but also enables doctors and patients to understand
the developmental pattern of the disease.
Article Source:
http://michaellee.articlesbase.com/cancer-articles/breast-cancer-stages-
importance-of-knowing-breast-cancer-stages-859049.html About the Author
If you want to uncover the truth about a new cancer cure
claiming to be scientifically proven to cure cancer and ALL types of
diseases (including AIDS, heart diseases, diabetes and many others), go
to http://www.squidoo.com/
newcancercure |
