18 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING | OCTOBER 2024
What the different stages of breast cancer signify
Upon being diagnosed with breast cancer , women and their families are presented with a wealth of information regarding the disease . Some of that information is unique to each patient , but much of it is based on decades of research and millions of successful treatments .
The American Cancer Society reports that cancer staging is a process during which doctors will attempt to determine if a cancer has spread and , if so , how far . Breast cancer stages range from stage 0 to stage IV . Each stage signifies something different , and recognition of what each stage indicates can make it easier for women to understand their disease .
STAGE 0
The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center notes that when a woman is diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer , that means abnormal cells are present but have not spread to nearby tissue . The National Breast Cancer Foundation , Inc .( indicates stage 0 breast cancer is the earliest stage of the disease and is highly treatable when detected early . Indeed , the American Cancer Society reports a five-year survival rate of 99 percent among individuals diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer .
STAGE I
Stage I is still considered early stage breast cancer . The MSKCC notes a stage I diagnosis indicates tumor cells have spread to normal surrounding breast tissue but are still contained in a small area . Stage I breast cancer may be characterized as stage IA , which indicates a tumor is about as large as a grape and cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes , or stage IB , which indicates the tumor may be slightly smaller but is accompanied by small clusters of cancer cells in the lymph nodes or there is no tumor and only the small clusters in the
18 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING | OCTOBER 2024