Breast Cancer - Moose and Doc

A breast cancer explanations website

 

By Dr. Halls

Staging of Breast Cancer:  The Index

 
Firstly, medics make an initial diagnosis of breast cancer in the ‘screening’ process.  Secondly, a number of subsequent tests and evaluations follow to determine the staging of breast cancer.

“What stage is the breast cancer?”  Well, basically the question means is the cancer in the early stages or more advanced? Staging results are useful for the breast cancer treatment team to determine the treatment and the follow-up procedures for managing the breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Staging:  Will a breast cancer progress?

 
Breast cancer ‘stage’ is a phrase that may seem to imply that a breast tumor will move from one stage to the next higher stage, over time.  That is somewhat true if a breast cancer is left untreated. But when breast cancer patients undergo effective treatment they are often cured.

The physicians and surgeons who offer treatment for breast cancer must make an evaluation, using their knowledge and experience, on how aggressive the treatment for breast cancer needs to be.

In addition, specialists will assess whether this treatment is urgent or not, and how best to monitor the progress and response over time. They need to know the stage, in order to make these recommendations.
 

This is the index about staging from my older content. It might be valuable, but this new page on staging is probably more-so.

 

Breast Cancer Grade

 
Several articles in this section will also discuss breast cancer ‘grade’, which is different from breast cancer ‘stage’. The grading of a breast tumor is largely dependent upon the microscopic and histological evaluation of the actual tissue samples and cells of the breast tumor.

There are ‘visual’ cues that a pathologist will see when viewing the cancer cells through the microscope.  This can give extra clues about how the cancer will behave. Microscopic analysis of the cells also looks for immunochemical indicators or ‘markers’, which give an indication of how well certain treatments are likely to work.

The histological evaluation can also give indications and reassurances of the benign or ‘likely-benign’ nature of the tumor.

Aggressive breast cancers might spread or ‘metastasize’ to different areas of the body, and that is what makes them dangerous and harmful. The staging of a breast cancer therefore also involves tests to determine whether or not the cancer has spread, or might spread, to the lymph nodes and other areas of the body.

There are many statistics that touch upon the disease-free and overall survival rates of various types of breast cancer at different stages. But, bear in mind that breast cancer is by-and-large a curable disease (up to 90%). A higher stage of breast cancer may require more aggressive interventions, but the outcome is usually positive.

Breast Cancer Staging in General

 
Breast cancer staging is all about deciding how to treat the breast cancer. The breast cancer team need to determine the extent of the breast cancer immediately. Staging also involves additional histological evaluations of the primary breast tumor.  This in order to gain the broadest possible understanding of the predicted behavior of the breast cancer and its responsiveness to treatment.

Index of Breast Cancer Staging Posts

Index of Breast cancer staging more specifically

Diagnostic imaging during breast cancer staging

 
Even though breast cancer is often detected from screening mammography, additional imaging studies will be necessary as part of the staging process. The doctors will want to determine if the cancer has spread to other areas of the body, and how best to plan and remove the primary breast tumor.

Index of Imaging Methods in Staging of Breast Cancer

 

Grading of breast carcinoma: DCIS and LCIS

 
After the initial diagnosis, more detailed staging processes are undertaken to learn about the extent of the breast cancer, and to arrive at a prognosis and treatment strategy.

One part of the staging process is to give the breast tumor a ‘grade‘, with lower grades usually indicative of a good prognosis, while higher grade breast cancers tend to have a poorer prognosis.

Doctors consider DCIS and LCIS to be a stage 0 or non-invasive breast cancer, as the tumor is still confined within the breast ducts or lobules. But even DCIS and LCIS tumors may still receive a grade.

Index of Ductal and Lobular Carcinoma In-Situ Grades

Diagnosis and Staging/Grading of infiltrating and invasive ductal carcinomas

 
Staging of invasive and infiltrating ductal and lobular carcinomas refers to the progression of the tumor and any metastasis.

However, grading is more a description of the tumor itself and a prediction of the aggressiveness of a particular breast tumor. Once a breast tumor is thoroughly staged and graded, treatment begins.

There are many different types of breast cancer, some quite rare in fact. Different types of breast cancers have proven to be more or less aggressive and to a certain extent to respond differently to treatments.

Index of Staging of Breast Cancer: Invasive or Infiltrating

The old index is back here, but the new homepage is better.  We also have an index of posts on Types of Breast Cancer and Survival Rates of Breast Cancer.  PLUS our brand new breast cancer site Homepage

About Steven Halls

Dr Halls has 25 years experience as a radiologist. He worked for 13 years at Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, a world-class cancer treatment facility. He has had high-volume experience with cancer, interventional procedures, clinical trials and his own phase 1 and 2 research in MRI and breast cancer staging.