SYMPTOMS AND STAGES OF BREAST CANCER

Breast cancer symptoms

In its early stages, breast cancer may not cause any symptoms. In many cases, a tumor may be too small to be felt, but an abnormality can still be seen on a mammogram. If a tumor can be felt, the first sign is usually a new lump in the breast that was not there before. However, not all lumps are cancer.

Each type of breast cancer can cause a variety of symptoms. Many of these symptoms are similar, but some can be different. Symptoms for the most common breast cancers include:

• A breast lump or tissue thickening that feels different than surrounding tissue and has developed recently
• Breast pain
• Red, pitted skin over your entire breast
• Swelling in all or part of your breast
• A nipple discharge other than breast milk
• Bloody discharge from your nipple
• Peeling, scaling, or flaking of skin on your nipple or breast
• A sudden, unexplained change in the shape or size of your breast
• Inverted nipple
• Changes to the appearance of the skin on your breasts
• A lump or swelling under your arm

If you have any of these symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have breast cancer. For instance, pain in your breast or a breast lump can be caused by a benign cyst. Still, if you find a lump in your breast or have other symptoms, you should see your doctor for further examination and testing. 

Breast cancer stages

Breast cancer can be divided into stages based on how large the tumor or tumors are and how much it has spread. Cancers that are large and/or have invaded nearby tissues or organs are at a higher stage than cancers that are small and/or still contained in the breast. In order to stage a breast cancer, doctors need to know:

• If the cancer is invasive or noninvasive
• How large the tumor is
• Whether the lymph nodes are involved
• If the cancer has spread to nearby tissue or organs

Breast cancer has five main stages: stages 0 to 5.

Stage 0 breast cancer: Stage 0 is DCIS. Cancer cells in DCIS remain confined to the ducts in the breast and have not spread into nearby tissue.

Stage 1 breast cancer:

• Stage 1A: The primary tumor is 2 centimeters wide or less and the lymph nodes are not affected.
• Stage 1B: Cancer is found in nearby lymph nodes, and either there is no tumor in the breast, or the tumor is smaller than 2 cm.

Stage 2 breast cancer:

• Stage 2A: The tumor is smaller than 2 cm and has spread to 1–3 nearby lymph nodes, or it’s between 2 and 5 cm and hasn’t spread to any lymph nodes.
• Stage 2B: The tumor is between 2 and 5 cm and has spread to 1–3 axillary (armpit) lymph nodes, or it’s larger than 5 cm and hasn’t spread to any lymph nodes.

Stage 3 breast cancer:

• Stage 3A: The cancer has spread to 4–9 axillary lymph nodes or has enlarged the internal mammary lymph nodes, and the primary tumor can be any size.Tumors are greater than 5 cm and the cancer has spread to 1–3 axillary lymph nodes or any breastbone nodes.
• Stage 3B: A tumor has invaded the chest wall or skin and may or may not have invaded up to 9 lymph nodes.
• Stage 3C: Cancer is found in 10 or more axillary lymph nodes, lymph nodes near the collarbone, or internal mammary nodes.

Stage 4 breast cancer: Stage 4 breast cancer can have a tumor of any size, and its cancer cells have spread to nearby and distant lymph nodes as well as distant organs. The testing your doctor does will determine the stage of your breast cancer, which will affect your treatment.