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Breast Cancer Staging
Getting the best resources activated are essential. Breast cancer isn't an overnight killer. Take time to get the best information and resources. I highly recommend you order the Moss Report for your particular situation. Read more about that here. Every diagnosis of
breast cancer eventually leads to a discussion on the stage of the
cancer. Staging yields
“ballpark” prognostic indicators, and is essential in determining
therapeutic choices. Without
appearing too jaded, it appears that therapeutic choices are rendered in
a cookbook fashion. This is
not to say that this approach is without significant merit.
Accumulated research has demonstrated which combinations of
surgery, chemotherapy and radiation have the greatest statistical chance
of success. The
American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system provides a
strategy for grouping patients with respect to prognosis. The primary determinant of therapeutic decisions is the
status of pertinent lymph nodes, estrogen and progesterone receptor
levels in the tumor tissue, menopausal status and overall health.
The
staging method of the AJCC utilizes stage information from three
parameters: Stage of the actual tumor, lymph node involvement, and
degree of metastasis. The
term TNM is used as an abbreviation.
Tumor
Stage:
TX:
Primary tumor cannot be assessed. TO:
No evidence of primary tumor Tis: Carcinoma
in situ (i.e. contained such as intraductal carcinoma, lobular carcinoma
in situ etc.) T1:
Tumor 2.0 cm in greatest dimension T1a:
Tumor more than 0.1 but less than 0.5 cm in greatest dimension T1b:
Tumor more than 0.5cm but less than 1.0cm T1c:
Tumor more than 1.0 but less than 2.0 cm T2:
Tumor more than 2.0 but less than 5.0 cm T3:
Tumor more than 5.0 cm T4: Tumor of any size which invades
skin or chest wall (excluding pectoral muscles) T4a: Extension
into chest wall T4b: Edema or ulceration of the skin of the breast T4c: Both T4a and T4b T4d: Inflammatory
carcinoma Lymph
Node Involvement: NX: Cannot be assessed N0: No regional lymph node involvement N1: Metastasis
to movable ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes N2: Metastasis
to ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes fixed to each other or other
structures. N3: Metastasis
to ipsilateral internal mammary lymph nodes. Metastasis: MX: Cannot be assessed M0: No distant metastasis M1: Distant Metastasis including lymph
nodes. All
of the above are then organized into stage groupings.
Stage groupings are what most patients are familiar with.
They are as follows
This
information probably appears technical and irrelevant to many, but for
those with a diagnosis of breast cancer it is the language of prognosis
and treatment protocols. Article by Michael Guthrie, R.Ph. |
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"Alternative Cancer Treatments"
Michael Guthrie,
R.Ph. CGP 2003-2006
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