Breastcancer >> FAQ's About Breast Cancer >> Are Women With Stage IIA Breast Cancer At Risk For Metastasis?
Are Women With Stage IIA Breast Cancer At Risk For Metastasis?
Nearly all types of breast cancer can metastasize. Cancer is staged so that it can be better understood. Breast cancer can take on so many changes during the illness, that it must be staged to better treat the disease. There are 7 stages to breast cancer; Stage 0, Stage I, Stage IIA, Stage IIB, Stage IIIA, Stage IIIB, Stage IIIC, and Stage IV.
In Stage 0, the cancer has not spread past its place or origin. Most of the time breast cancer starts in the breast duct; this is called ductal carcinoma in situ. If your cancer is in situ, it has not moved. If your cancer is categorized at Stage I, the tumor in your breast has not advanced past 2 centimeters; there is no metastasis at stage I. If you have Stage II (sub-stage A and B) breast cancer your breast tumor is no larger than 5 centimeters, and cancer cells have broken off and traveled to the lymph nodes. This is the starting of metastasis. If your breast cancer advances to Stage III (sub-stage A, B or C) the cancer cells from the tumor may have spread past the lymph nodes into other areas, such as the breast bone, the chest wall and around the collar bone. The breast cancer can advance as far as to the skin on and around the breast. Stage IV is the final stage of breast cancer. If you have Stage IV breast cancer, cancer cells have moved to other organs in your body. Breast cancer can set up in the lungs, liver, bones and brain.
Breast cancer that has metastasized to other organs is still breast cancer. One should not confuse a secondary tumor in the lung as lung cancer. If breast cancer has metastasized to the lung, it is still breast cancer. The cancer cells are breast cells in the lung. The same with metastasis to the bone, liver or brain, a malignancy in one of these areas of the body is composed of cancerous breast cells.
If you are diagnosed with Stage 0 or Stage I, you are likely to be treated and have a full recovery. If your cancer has reached stage II, you still have a good chance of recovery, even though the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Once your cancer advances to stage III and Stage IV it becomes more difficult to recover. The recovery rate for someone with Stage III breast cancer is 49 to 67 percent, and a 5 recovery rate for Stage IV breast cancer is only 20 percent. Most women, by the time their breast cancer is at Stage IV, must come to the realization that they may only have about 2 to 3 years left to live. Most of the time, doctors don’t like to put a time frame on their life expectancy, because everyone is different. You might beat the odds and live for much longer than 5 years with Stage IV breast cancer.
There are often no signs or symptoms associated with breast cancer in the early stages. You may not see or feel anything different about your breasts if you are not looking for changes, which is why breast self-exams are so important. Even if you are doing monthly breast self-exams, you may not feel anything if the cancer is in the very early stages, which is why women 40 years and older should get a mammogram done once every one to two years. It is also important to have a clinical breast exam done once a year with an annual physical. Sometimes women put off going to the doctor for a routine physical because they don’t have health insurance. It is vitally important that you don’t put off getting breast cancer screening, because if breast cancer is caught early, it is very treatable.