Your doctor will use one or more of the methods described above to decide if your breast signs are benign or not, and should breast cancer be confirmed, he or she will then need to find out quickly the type and stage of the disease. Sometimes further investigations are needed, such as a bone scan or a liver ultrasound scan.
Breast tumors are very small and measure less than 2 centimetres in size. This is termed ‘early breast cancer’.
Breast tumors measure between 2 and 5 centimetres and the lymph nodes may have become affected. There is no sign of spread of breast cancer to any other part of the body. This is still termed ‘early breast cancer’.
Breast tumors are larger than 5 centimetres and the lymph nodes are usually affected, but there is still no sign that the disease has spread any further throughout the body. This is known as ‘locally-advanced breast cancer’
Breast tumors are of any size, but in addition the lymph nodes are affected and the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. This is known as ‘advanced or metastatic breast cancer’.
The term "early breast cancer" refers to stages of breast cancer labeled 0, I, and 2.
The term "advanced breast cancer" refers to stages of breast cancer labeled 3 and 4.
Many of the tests described are intended to show the extent of the cancer, and from the results of these the doctors are able to divide breast cancer into four different stages:
Cancer cells are present in either the lining of a breast lobule or a duct, but they have not spread to the surrounding fatty tissue. This stage is also called ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS .
