Breast Cancer Treatment by Stage

1. Melaniebreastspecialist.com Breast Cancer Treatment by Stage Cancer is a disease in which the cells grow rapidly and abnormally. The growth of these abnormal cells in different parts of the body is known as cancer. There are many types of cancer depending upon the body part being affected. Breast cancer is abnormal growth of cells in the breast region. Breast cancer has 5 stages. Stage 0 is the first stage where the cancer is found in the milk ducts of the breast. Stage 1A is where primary tumor is less than 2cm and the axillary lymph nodes are not affected. Stage 1B is where the adjacent lymph nodes are also affected by the cancer. Stage 2A is where either the tumor is less than 2cm and the cancer has spread to two or three nearby lymph nodes or the tumor is between 2 and 5 cm and has not spread. Stage 2B is where the tumor is between 2 and 5 cm and has spread to the nearby lymph nodes. Stage 3A is where the cancer has spread to eight to nine lymph nodes and the tumor size can vary. Stage 3B is where it has infected the chest wall and the skin. Stage 3C is when it has spread to more than 4 lymph nodes. Stage 4 is where the cancer has increased in size and spread to different parts of the body. There are different steps of treatment. Surgery can be done through which the infected parts of the breast can be removed. Lumpectomy is where only the infected part is removed and mastectomy is where entire breast is removed. Surgery is usually done up to stage 3 depending upon the size of the tumor. Radiation therapy is often recommended post-surgery. Chemotherapy is another form of breast cancer treatment where the cancer is killed through chemotherapy drugs. After all the other treatment is complete the doctors may recommend for hormone therapy.

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