Stage 3 Breast Cancer

Stage 3 breast cancer is broken down into three stage groupings, A, B, and C. Each one of the stage 3 breast cancer groupings is reviewed separately below.

Stage 3A

T0 - 2 N2 M0

T3 N1 - 2 M0

In general, the above TNM stages can be summarized below as:

· The tumor is up to 5 centimeters in size, up to 9 lymph nodes are involved and / or the mammary nodes are involved, and there is no metastasis to distant parts of the body

· The tumor is bigger than 5 centimeters in size, 1 to 9 lymph nodes are involved, and there is no spread to any other parts of the body.

This stage may also be described as locally advanced breast cancer. The survival rate for stage 3A breast cancer is about 67%.

Stage 3B

T4 N0 – 2 M0

In general, the above TNM stage can be summarized below as:

· The distinguishing feature of this stage is that the tumor has grown into the chest wall or the skin.

· The lymph nodes may or may not be involved including the internal mammary glands, there is no spread to other parts of the body.

This stage may also be described as locally advanced breast cancer. The survival rate for stage 3B breast cancer is about 54%.

Stage 3C

T0 - 4 N3 M0

In general, the above TNM stages can be summarized below as:

· The distinguishing feature of this stage is the significant lymph node involvement. 10 or more axillary nodes are involved, or the nodes around the collar bone are involved.

· The tumor can be any size, or undetectable.

· There is no spread to other parts of the body.

This stage may also be described as locally advanced breast cancer. The survival rate for stage 3C breast cancer is not available as it has only recently been established as a grouping.

This is a lot of information. Please remember that I am not a doctor or health care provider. This information is being provided after hours upon hours of reading from multiple sources in an effort to give you a broad scope of information and hopefully better understanding about breast cancer. It is not intended to diagnosis or treat breast cancer.

Treatments for breast cancer are different, pending the different characteristics that the tumor may have, the health of an individual with breast cancer, and many other factors. Click the following link for information to discuss with a doctor about stage 3 breast cancer treatments.

Truly reading all of the numbers, breast cancer statistics, and about any stage of breast cancer can seem overwhelming. Below are some words of encouragement for you, or for someone you may know who is in the breast cancer battle. The statistics for Stage 3 breast cancer and Stage 4 breast cancer become more concerning with much lower survival rates. Many, many, MANY women have survived stage 3 breast cancer even after their doctors told them that the prognosis wasn’t good.

NO ONE CAN PREDICT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO AN INDIVIDUAL. YOUR PERSONAL SURVIVAL IS NOT A STATISTIC.

STATISTICS APPLY TO POPULATIONS AND GROUPS OF PEOPLE, NOT TO A SINGLE PERSON.

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