Stage 2 Breast Cancer is, needless to say, more advance that its predecessors. General changes include the increase in tumor size, possible involvement of a small portion of surrounding lymph nodes and a wider area of infection. Stage 2 Breast Cancer is a type of invasive cancer, penetrating to regional lymph nodes and beyond.
By TNM definition, Stage 2 Breast Cancer is called T3/T4 N (1 or 0) M0. To understand this fully, this stage has been broken down into 2 phases: Stage2A and Stage 2B.
Like most cancers, the Stage 2 Breast Cancer 1st phase has a TNM staging system name of T3 N0 or N1 M0 which means that the tumor level has reached the 3rd degree, there is not yet any nodular involvement and metastasis has not yet started. In the first phase, the tumor may measure about 2cm or smaller and has penetrated the axillary lymph nodes or it measures from 2cm-5cm but has not yet infected the axillary lymph nodes.
Stage 2B, on the other hand, has a TNM staging name of T4 N1 or N0 M0. Simply it means that the size of the tumor is already at its 4th degree, involvement of nodules are more likely, but there is not yet any hint of metastasis. At this stage, the tumor size is 2cm or larger but does not go beyond 5cm and has penetrated the axillary nodes. Another case is that the tumor has gone beyond 5cm but has no node involvement.
Treatment
Recommended treatment plan at this stage is surgery + therapies (either radiation or chemotherapeutic drugs). Since the cancer cells are starting to increase its level of severity, a more potent treatment regimen is also needed. Your doctor may suggest either lumpectomy or mastectomy depending on how wide the infected areas are and in some cases, removal of the affected lymph node will be necessary. After surgery, you will be subjected to a series of chemo or radiation therapy sessions to kill the remaining cancer cells that were not taken at surgery. Routine blood tests and other laboratory work ups may still be done post-operatively to monitor your recovery phase.
Survival Rate
Assuming you have had a successful surgery and your treatment plan seemed to be doing you good, the highest survival rate for this stage is around 81% while the lowest is around 74%. However, there were recorded cases where patients have actually exceeded the maximum standard survival duration and have lived more than 5 years.
By TNM definition, Stage 2 Breast Cancer is called T3/T4 N (1 or 0) M0. To understand this fully, this stage has been broken down into 2 phases: Stage2A and Stage 2B.
Like most cancers, the Stage 2 Breast Cancer 1st phase has a TNM staging system name of T3 N0 or N1 M0 which means that the tumor level has reached the 3rd degree, there is not yet any nodular involvement and metastasis has not yet started. In the first phase, the tumor may measure about 2cm or smaller and has penetrated the axillary lymph nodes or it measures from 2cm-5cm but has not yet infected the axillary lymph nodes.
Stage 2B, on the other hand, has a TNM staging name of T4 N1 or N0 M0. Simply it means that the size of the tumor is already at its 4th degree, involvement of nodules are more likely, but there is not yet any hint of metastasis. At this stage, the tumor size is 2cm or larger but does not go beyond 5cm and has penetrated the axillary nodes. Another case is that the tumor has gone beyond 5cm but has no node involvement.
Treatment
Recommended treatment plan at this stage is surgery + therapies (either radiation or chemotherapeutic drugs). Since the cancer cells are starting to increase its level of severity, a more potent treatment regimen is also needed. Your doctor may suggest either lumpectomy or mastectomy depending on how wide the infected areas are and in some cases, removal of the affected lymph node will be necessary. After surgery, you will be subjected to a series of chemo or radiation therapy sessions to kill the remaining cancer cells that were not taken at surgery. Routine blood tests and other laboratory work ups may still be done post-operatively to monitor your recovery phase.
Survival Rate
Assuming you have had a successful surgery and your treatment plan seemed to be doing you good, the highest survival rate for this stage is around 81% while the lowest is around 74%. However, there were recorded cases where patients have actually exceeded the maximum standard survival duration and have lived more than 5 years.
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