Breastcancer >> FAQ's About Breast Cancer >> Why Is Breast Cancer Diagnosed In Stages?
Why Is Breast Cancer Diagnosed In Stages?
Breast cancer, like any other cancer, is staged to describe where the cancer is in the body, and where it has spread in the body, if there is metastasis. Staging identifies the size of a breast tumor, if there is one; staging also identifies the approximate size of lymph node tumors, if there are any. In the very early stages, there may or may not be tumors in the breast and the lymph nodes at the same time. Further stages identify how far the cancer has moved away from its place of origin. Later stages identify the cancer spreading and sticking to places like the breast bone and collar bone, and the last stage identifies the organs in the body where the breast cancer has metastasized. Breast cancer is staged at Stage 0, Stage I, Stage IIA, Stage IIB, Stage IIIA, Stage IIIB, Stage IIIC, and Stage IV.
Staging helps to determine the survival rate for a period of 5 years. Stage 0 has a 100 percent survival rate, and so does Stage I. The survival rate is 86 percent at Stage II, and at Stage III is 57 percent. Finally, the survival rate for Stage IV for 5 years is only 20 percent. The more invasive the cancer is the higher it is staged. Doctors have to do many diagnostic tests to determine the stage of a person’s breast cancer.
The doctor may order X-rays, a mammogram, CT scans, MRI scans, bone scans, and CT guided biopsies to properly diagnose breast cancer into the correct stage. A chest X-ray is done to visualize the lungs. A radiologist can tell if breast cancer has metastasized to the lungs. Your doctor may order a mammogram to identify where the tumors are, and to look for any new areas in the breast that have become cancerous.
Your doctor may order a bone scan to see if the breast cancer has metastasized to anywhere in the bones. A bone scan can show all the bones in your body at once, and is more useful to detect cancer in the bones than X-rays would be. To have a bone scan the technician will give you a low dose of radioisotope into your vein by way of an IV. The scan takes about 30 minutes to complete, while you lie flat on the table; the camera detects the radioactive material and makes a visible scanned image of your bones. The radioactive material will condense more into cancerous areas of the bones, creating an image of the bones and where the hot spots are.
If your doctor orders a CT scan, this is a type of X-ray machine that takes computer images of the area being scanned. The scan will take pictures in slices. A CT scan can show great detail. A doctor may order a CT scan after cancer treatments have been done to see if the cancer has responded to the rounds of cancer treatments. An MRI may also be done to check the body for areas of metastasis. An MRI might be indicated if cancer was found in one breast, and the doctor wants to visualize the other breast to check for tumors.
Diagnostic testing, such as the X-ray, CT, MRI, and bone scan are done to help determine the stage of the breast cancer. In the later stages, breast cancer may spread to the bone, liver, brain or lungs. These diagnostic exams can determine where cancer has spread into the body, and if breast cancer has spread to the bone, the cancer is staged at Stage IV. If there are no cancer cells in any of the organs or the bones, but there are lymph nodes in the chest that are cancerous, the breast cancer will be staged at one of the subcategories of Stage III. If the testing finds there is no distant metastasis, but there are cancer cells in the surrounding tissues and lymph nodes, they doctor can diagnose the cancer as stage II. Obviously, if your doctor finds your breast cancer at Stage 0 or Stage I you have much better chances of recovery.