CANCER STAGE is based on four characteristics:the size of the cancer. Whether the cancer is invasive or non-invasive whether cancer is in the lymph nodes. Whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body beyond the breast. You also may see or hear certain words used to describe the stage of the breast cancer:

LOCAL: The cancer is confined within the breast.Regional: The lymph nodes, primarily those in the armpit, are involved.

DISTANT: The cancer is found in other parts of the body as well.Sometimes doctors use the term “locally advanced” or “regionally advanced” to refer to large tumors that involve the breast skin, underlying chest structures, changes to the breast's shape, and lymph node enlargement that is visible or that your doctor can feel during an exam.

The stage of the breast cancer can help you and your doctor understand your prognosis (the most likely outcome of the disease) and make decisions about treatment, along with all of the other results in your pathology report.

Cancer stage also gives everyone a common way to describe the breast cancer, so that the results of your treatment can be compared and understood relative to that of other people.

Your doctor may use another staging system known as TNM to describe the cancer. This system is based on the size of the tumor (T), lymph node involvement (N), and whether the cancer has spread, or metastasized, to other parts of the body (M).

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