Stages of breast cancer

When breast cancer is discovered, additional tests will be done to find out if the cancer has spread from the breast to other parts of the body.

These include:

• Chest X-ray
• Ultrasound examination of the liver
• Bone scintigraphy
• Determination of tumor marker

In order to plan treatment, the doctor needs to know the stage of the disease.
In breast cancer, there are the following stages:
 
Stage 0 or carcinoma in situ

15-20% of breast cancers are detected in early stages, either when the wall of the duct or is exceeded just Brustläppchens minimally or not yet. The latter is known as carcinoma in situ. There are two types of breast cancer in situ: a the carcinoma in situ of the duct (also called intraductales carcinoma), and the other type is the lobular carcinoma in situ. Patients with a diagnosis of carcinoma in situ (stage 0 breast cancer) develop a 25% probability within the next 25 years, a breast cancer.
 
Stage I

The tumor is not greater than 2 cm, and has not spread outside the breast.
 
Stage II

A distinction is a stage II A and B. Stage II Stage II A is defined by one of the following:

• The tumor is not greater than 2 cm, but has spread to lymph nodes in the armpits
• The tumor is between 2 - and 5 inches, but it has not affected lymph nodes in the armpit

Stage II B is defined by one of the following:

• The tumor is between 2 and 5 cm in size and it has spread to lymph nodes in the armpit
• The tumor is larger than 5 cm, but he has not yet spread to the lymph nodes in the armpits.

Stage III
Stage III is also divided into a stage III A and a stage III B.

Stage III A is defined by one of the following:

• The tumor is smaller than 5 cm, has spread to the lymph nodes in the armpits, and the lymph nodes are fused with each other or to other structures
• The tumor is larger than 5 centimeters and has spread to the lymph nodes in the armpits

Stage III B is defined by one of the following:

• The tumor has spread to the tissue around the breast (skin edge of the thorax, including ribs and muscles in the chest)
• The cancer has spread to lymph nodes inside the chest wall along the breast bone

Stage IV

The cancer has spread to other organs of the body (metastasis), usually the bones, lungs, liver, or brain, or the tumor has spread locally in the skin and the cervical lymph nodes near the collarbone.
 
A sub-group or a special group of stage IV is the so-called inflammatory breast cancer, the inflammatory breast cancer:

Inflammatory breast cancer is a special class of breast cancer, which is rare. The chest will appear because of the reddish appearance and heat ignited like. The skin may surveys (plateau difference) and furrows (orange peel - phenomenon) show altered or appear pitted. Inflammatory breast cancer tends to spread quickly.
 
Recurrence

Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back after treatment (relapse). It can in the chest, in the soft tissues of the chest or other parts of the body (liver, lung, bone, brain) occur again.