Breast Cancer Stages

A staging system for all cancers including breast cancer is another tool for the doctors to differentiate the tumors and to choose the best treatment for them. Staging can be divided in:
-Clinical staging when is based in the information gathered before surgery, so information gathered from physical examination, radiological examination or endoscopy.
–Pathological staging when is based in the information gathered after the surgery from the examination of the tumor microscopically.

The pathological staging is considered to be more accurate because allows the doctor to get a firsthand impression of the extension of the breast cancer. To differentiate they are used as small letters “c” or “p” before the stage.

TNM staging is another system for the classification of malignant tumors. It was developed by Pierre Denoix (France) between the years 1943 and 19521. Since then it has been changed different times. The present seventh edition of TNM Classification contains rules of classification and staging that correspond with those appearing in the seventh edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual (2009) and have approval of all national TNM committees.It should remain unchanged until some major advances in diagnosis or treatment relevant to a particular site requires reconsideration of the current classification.

T stands for tumor– it gives information about the tumor size:

TX is used when the tumor can’t be found or can’t be measured
T0 is used when there is no evidence of the primary tumor Continue reading TNM Staging

Breast cancer is a serious disease that affects millions around the world, and in the United States alone there are more than two million men and women who have survived this cancer. The disease is almost exclusively targeted to women, but there have been cases of men with breast cancer. The determining factor on whether or not someone survives breast cancer is how soon it is caught and treated, with those receiving treatment for the disease in its later stages having a much lower survival rate than those who catch the cancer early, especially in the beginning. Lower stages indicate the earlier stages of cancer while higher numbers indicate late-stage cancers a lower possibility for full recovery. Staging breast cancer lets the doctor determine its characteristics like:

the size of the tumor and the location in the breast
if it is localized or has spread within the breast
if the cancer has spread in the lymph nodes under the arm
if the cancer has spread in other parts of the body

Stage 0- is the stage of breast cancer called Carcinoma in Situ, and is not really a stage of the cancer at all, but is the earliest point at which the cancer can be caught. Patients who are treated for breast cancer at this stage survive at least five years one hundred percent of the time and most continue as though they had never had cancer. This stage is marked by the presence of atypical cells that Continue reading Breast Cancer Stages