Stages of Breast Cancer

The process of detecting the growth of the cancer within the breast and its growth in other body parts is called staging. Breast cancer is divided into four stages out of which stage II and III are further broken into sub-stages. The analysis of the cancer according to the staging process is important to determine the breast cancer stage, in order to opt for appropriate treatment course.

Stage 0

At this stage, breast cancer does not metastasise to parts surrounding the area of origin. This non-invasive stage is also known as ductal or lobular carcinoma in situ (DCIS or LCIS). At stage 0, abnormal cells start appearing in the ducts of the breast. Cancer at this stage is easily detectable by mammogram screenings.

Stage I

Stage I of breast cancer appears when tissue becomes invasive, i.e. it grows towards other areas surrounding the cancer site.  Stage I of breast cancer is characterised by tumour, which is around 2 centimetres wide. At this stage, usually it has been seen that cancer does not spread to the lymph nodes.

Stage II

At stage II, the cancer has not spread to any other organs but lymph nodes of armpits. This stage has been further divided into stage IIA and stage IIB. At stage IIA, cancer is not found in breasts but it has spread to lymph nodes under the arms. The tumour is sized between two to five centimetres.
In stage IIB, the tumour is bigger than five centimetres and has spread to the lymph nodes.

Stage III

This stage is broken into three sub-stages-- stage IIIA, IIIB and IIIC.

At stage IIIA, no cancer is found in the breast, but cancerous cells have spread to arm lymph nodes and perhaps in the breastbone lymph nodes also.  Tumour at this stage may be bigger or smaller than 5 centimeters.

In stage IIIB, a tumour can spread to the chest wall or breast skin and has spread to arm lymph nodes or breast bone lymph nodes. The tumour can be any size. Inflammation of the affected breast starts at this stage or at later stages.

At breast cancer stage IIIC, tumour can be any size and will have moved to the chest wall or breast skin. It may also have spread to lymph nodes around the collarbone or of the arm and breastbone.

Stage IV

This is the last stage of breast cancer. By this time, the cancer has metastasized to other parts of the body, such as bones, the brain, the liver or lungs. The survival rate at this stage depends on the age of the patients.