Information on the different stages of breast cancer
There is a way that doctors determine how bad the cancer is in the body. They use a stage system that ranges from stage 0 all the way to stage IV. However, in between these two radically different stages, there are numerous different stages. For example, there is a stage IIIA and a stage IIIB. The thing to understand about these stages is that as time goes on and the stage gets higher and higher, the breast cancer is getting worse and worse. Because of this, it is important that it be caught at an early stage so that it can be battled rather than at a later stage where battle is far more difficult.
Stage 0 is where there is no breakout of the cancer cells which means that it is not invading other tissue. This is non-invasive breast cancer. If it can be caught here, it is easily treated and there is little anyone needs to worry about. Stage I is where it begins to get a little more hectic. The breast cancer is now invasive which means it is invading other tissues around it. The tumor can be up to about two centimeters, but the lymph nodes are not currently involved. Stage III is where the lymph nodes have been affected; however, they have not stuck together yet. The tumor can be greater than two centimeters, but not more than five centimeters.
Stage IIIA is where the tumor can be larger than five centimeters. It is an invasive breast cancer; however, the lymph nodes are not affected by the cancer. Stage IIIB is a little different. It is invasive and the cancer has spread to the breast skin, deeper into the breast and other parts of the breast. A type of Stage IIIB cancer is inflammatory breast cancer. This type of cancer is extremely aggressive and spreads extremely fast. It does damage to the breast fast and it is dangerous because there is only a lump half the time, so it is difficult to diagnose.
Stage IV is the worst. This is where the tumor can be at any size and that the cancer has spread through the lymph nodes. Where they were first located at under the arm pit, the cancer now spread to other lymph nodes, now in the neck and then at other parts of the body, such as the brain, liver, lungs, etc. This is where the dangerous part of the cancer comes. It spreads to so many different parts of the body that it becomes a cancer there too. So, now the patient not only has a breast cancer, but the patient is developing lung cancer, liver cancer and other types of cancers. Stage IV is extremely dangerous and extremely hard to treat. It is important that the breast cancer be caught before Stage IV because once the cancer begins to metastasize, treating it becomes a real difficult task.