BREAST CANCER (CON'T)
Overview of Breast Cancer
Types of Breast Cancer:
- ductal carcinoma in situ
- lobular carcinoma in situ
- infiltrating ductal carcinoma
- infiltrating lobular carcinoma
- inflammatory breast cancer
- medullary breast cancer
- mucinous breast cancer
- lymphoma of the breast
- sarcoma of the breast
- tubular breast cancer
- male breast cancer
Stages of Breast Cancer:
Stage I
Stage II
Stages I and II are early-stage breast cancer
Stage III
Stage III is also called locally advanced breast cancer
Stage IV
Stage IV is metastatic breast cancer. The cancer has spread beyond the breast and underarm lymph nodes to other parts of the body.
Recurrent
Breast cancer that recurs in the area of the initial surgery is called a local or regional recurrence. If the cancer returns in another part of the body, the distant recurrence is called metastatic breast cancer.
Metastatic Breast Cancer:
- Breast cancer with bone metastases
- Breast cancer with bone and lung metastases
- Breast cancer with brain metastases
- Breast cancer with brain and liver metastases
- Breast cancer with liver and lung metastases
- Breast cancer with liver metastases
- Breast cancer with lung metastases
- Breast cancer with meningeal metastases
- Breast cancer with pleura metastases
- Breast cancer with skin metastases
- Breast cancer with eye metastases
- Other sites of metastases: bladder
Other Factors:
Depending on whether you have gone through the menopause, your breast cancer may be described as premenopausal, postmenopausal, or perimenopausal.
Your breast cancer may be bilateral (in both breasts), contralateral (in the opposite breast), or synchronous (2 or more tumors in the same breast). It may be node-negative or node-positive
You may have aggressive breast cancer or high risk breast cancer. You may have micrometastases or your breast cancer may be considered occult.
Grade of Breast Cancer:
Grade indicates how quickly or slowly cancer cells grow. The grade is determined by the appearance of the cells under the microscope. Tumors are graded on a scale of 1 to 3.
Grade 1 - cells look most like normal tissue (called well differentiated or low-grade).
Grade 2 - cells look somewhat like normal tissue (called moderately well differentiated or moderate grade).
Grade 3 - cells appear very abnormal (called poorly differentiated or undifferentiated or high-grade). They are likely to grow more quickly and more likely to spread.
