As mentioned in previous article, there are high risks of development of breast cancer among women when compared to men. To get an overview of the breast cancer and its causes, you can have a look at our previous article to know more in depth about the disease. In this article, we will mainly have a focus on the early detection of breast cancer. Also, we will look at the various stages of breast cancer in women. Let us begin on how to find out the early symptoms of breast cancer and confirm its presence in our body.
Early Detection of Breast Cancer in Women:
It is highly common that women are more exposed to breast cancer than men due to the presence of high levels of progesterone and estrogen hormones in them. They are the main causes in women to get exposed to breast cancer.
Detecting the presence of tumor cells can be done with various screening tests and examining the tissue culture from the blood. The screening test used to confirm the presence of the cancer cells in the breast for women is commonly called as the mammogram as it involves the detection of tumor cells in the mammary glands of the women. This test is one among the basic test to find the presence of vindictive tumor cells even before the occurrence of any symptoms in the body. These cells are usually capable of growing in larger sizes and also have the habit of spreading to other portions of the body. It is recommended that the screening test can be effectively used to find the cancer cells when they are small in size.
Various Stages Of Breast Cancer:
Each and every disease has various phases depending upon various symptoms and criteria associated with it. Similarly, the various stages of breast cancer in women are characterized with the help of the following factors and they are grouped into various levels starting initially from Zero To stage 4, where stage 4 is considered to be most impacted spreading level of cancer cells beyond the breast and has developed to spread fully all over the body. The criteria which determines the level of cancer are
- The location of the cancer cells present in the breast region.
- The size of the cancer cells detected in the body.
- The aggression of the cells on human body.
- Specific check for the presence of cancer in lymph nodes.
Stage 0:
This is the first and the initial stage of cancer where there won’t be any signs or symptoms of the malignant tumour cells gets detected in the human body. In this stage, there won’t be any level of aggressiveness of the tumor cells to get a breakthrough into the various other locations of the body. This level of cancer is called as “Ductal Carcinoma in Situ” and does not have much impact or damage.
Stage 1 (I):
This stage is usually the start of some development of aggressive cancer cells in the body. In this stage, the cancer cells in the breast not also grows bigger but also spreads the infection to the nearby cells and spreading infection to the surrounding cells in the breast region. Use of microscopic investigations may be vital to investigate the development and spreading of the cancer cells in this levels.
Initially, this phase can be classified into two subcategories namely the 1A and 1B. In the first sub-category level, the tumor cells usually measure about 1 to 2 centimeter in normal and it also ensures that the lymph nodes are not affected and the infection is spread locally.
In stage 1B, the tumor cells are usually not found in the breast region but malignant cells are developed in the lymph nodes varying in size from 0.20 millimeters to 2.1 millimeters or also there is a possibility of the same size of tumor cells in the lymph nodes along with the presence of tumor cells in the breast region too.
breast cancer Stage 2:
Similar to the stage 1, this stage can also be categorized as 2A and 2B, where category 2A mainly comprises of the following.
- There are no signs of presence of cancer cells found in the breast, but tumor cells which are larger in size may usually be present in more than one lymph nodes present under the arms of the women or in the same nodes which composes a portion of the breast bones in women.
- Possibilities of small tumor cells affecting the lymph nodes or tumor cells which are medium in size and are less than 5 centimeters may get spread-ed to the axillary lymph node.
Stage 2B has shows signs of aggressiveness of breast cancer cells and they are as follows:
- The malignant tumor cells usually vary from 2 to 5 centimeters in size are found in the breast region of a women, along with the group of some other cancer cells may be found in the lymph nodes varying from 0.20 to 2.10 millimeters in nature.
- The tumor cells are very large in size and are not spread-ed to the lymph node region or there is another possibility in which, the infected cell is of size ranging on an average and has already started to spread the disease to the lymph nodes which can be clearly seen biopsy tests.
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Stage 3:
The stage 3 level of cancer is considered to have more impact on the patient and more effectiveness of the cancer cells is shown on the patient’s. This stage can further be divided into three types namely.
Type 1:
- There are no signs of any tumor cells which can be detected from the breast region invariable to the size of the cells, but there is a vast level of spreading in the lymph nodes where more than 5 nodes are usually infected by the cancer cells.
- There are tumors of large size normally being found in the breast region and has some level of small cancer cells that are very minute in size being found in the lymph nodes. Or there are chances of the tumor cells affecting the axillary lymph nodes.
Type 2:
- The cancer cells begin to slowly infect the other parts of the body and creates some signs of ulcer problems and inflammations in the breast region.
- A possibility of getting spread to all the lymph nodes on the body or to the lymph nodes that are composed near the breast bones of a women.
Type 3:
- Even though , there has been spreading of infection to all other parts of the body, there may not be any symptoms of presence of infected cells in the breast region.
- The level of infection has not only occurred in the lymph nodes or the axillary lymph nodes but has also spread to the collar bones in the body.
Breast Cancer Stage 4 (IV):
This level of cancer is said to be the cancer level at its peak, showing disastrous symptoms and effects on the human immune system. In this stage, the cancer cells have spread almost to all the parts of the body including the lungs, abdomen, skin etc and shows various impacts. In some people, the presence of cancer cells are mostly detected in this 4th stage, since there are no symptoms gets exposed from their body showing the presence of tumor cells.