What are Types, Signs and Stages of Breast Cancer?

Once a rare disease, cancer is one of the most common diseases and a leading cause of death of millions of people across the globe. Typically a lifestyle disease, cancer begins when normal, healthy cells of the body become malignant, i.e. they mutate and become self-destructive in nature. The mutation allows the cells to divide and multiply at an uncontrollable and chaotic rate. These cells, further, disrupt the normal functionality of the organs of the body, causing them to collapse and further lead to the death of an individual.

Medical science recognizes almost 400 types of cancers. Of these, breast cancer is one of the most common and leading causes of death of women worldwide. Cancer, in this case, develops in either the lobules or the ducts of the breast. Lobules are special glands which are responsible for the production of milk, and ducts are the pathways through which milk flow from the glands to the nipples of the breast. Cancer can also develop in the fibrous connective tissues of the breast.

Types of breast cancer

Several types of breast cancer are recognized by medical science, which primarily can be divided into two categories – invasive and non-invasive. While invasive cancer is the one that spreads from the breast ducts or the glands to the other parts of the breast; non-invasive cancer, on the other hand, does not spread from the original tissue, as detected during screening.

Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. Ductal carcinoma in situ is a noninvasive breast cancer condition. Here, the cells which make the duct in the breast change and appear cancerous. However, they do not invade the surrounding breast tissue.

Lobular Carcinoma In Situ. Lobular carcinoma in situ is a type of cancer which develops in the milk-producing glands of the breast. Similar to DCIS, the cancer cells do not invade the surrounding tissues until they turn too dangerous in nature.

Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. As the name says, Invasive Ductal Carcinoma is one of the most common types of breast cancer. It typically begins in the breast’s milk ducts and further invades the adjoining tissues. Once the cancer type has spread to the tissues outside the milk ducts, it starts to spread to other parts of the body as well.

Invasive Lobular Carcinoma. This type of breast cancer first develops in the breast’s lobules, and soon begins to spread to adjoining tissue and organs of the body.

Signs and Symptoms of Breast Cancer

Most cancer specialists state that breast cancer does not showcase any signs or symptoms in its initial state of existence. In most cases, the tumor is either too small to be felt physically or detected in cancer screening tests including a mammogram. Once the tumor develops a bit more, it begins showing its prominence.

While each type of breast cancer has its own set of symptoms, many of these are similar to each other. Most common breast cancer symptoms are as follows:

a breast lump or tissue thickening which feels and appears different
pain in the breast
bloody discharge from the nipples other than breast milk
swelling in a few or all parts of your breast
red, pitted skin over your entire breast
changes in the look of the skin of the breasts
peeling, scaling and/or flaking of the skin around the nipples and the entire breast
an unexplained change in the shape and/or size of the breast
inverted nipples
presence of a lump or swelling under one of the arms

Stages of Breast Cancer

Similar to other known cancers, breast cancer too can be divided into different stages on the basis the severity of the condition. Cancers which have typically outgrown and invaded surrounding tissues and organs of the body stand at the highest stage as compared to cancers which are still contained to the breasts.

To stage a breast cancer, doctors usually look for the following things:

whether the cancer type is invasive or noninvasive
the size of the tumor
the areas affected by cancer
whether the lymph nodes are involved

Breast cancer has five main stages – 1 to 5

Stage 0

Stage 0 is usually defined as DCIS or Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. Cancer cells in this stage remain confined to the ducts of the breast and have yet to spread into the surrounding tissues and organs of the body.

Stage 1

Stage 1 is further divided into two types:

Stage 1A: When the tumor is about 2 centimeters wide or less and poses no effect on the lymph nodes.

Stage 1B: When cancer is found in the surrounding lymph nodes, and either there is no tumor present in the breasts, or the tumor is quite small in size, nearly 2 centimeters or less.

Stage 2

Stage 2 breast cancer can also be divided into two types:

Stage 2A: When the size of the tumor is smaller than 2 centimeters and has spread to about 1 to 3 surrounding lymph nodes, or it’s size has grown between 2 and 5 centimeters and it hasn’t spread to any of the lymph nodes.

Stage 2B: When the size of the tumor ranges between 2 and 5 centimeters and has spread to nearly 1 to 3 lymph nodes present in the armpit; or its size is larger than 5 centimeters and hasn’t yet spread to any of the lymph nodes.

Stage 3 breast cancer

Stage 3 breast cancer can be classified into three categories:

Stage 3A: The primary stage where several types of conditions exist:

The cancerous cells have spread to about 4 to 9 axillary lymph nodes or they have collectively enlarged the internal mammary lymph nodes. Here, the primary size of the tumor cannot be defined.
The tumor is typically bigger than 5 centimeters and small groups of cancerous cells are present in the lymph nodes.
The tumor is bigger than 5 centimeters and the cancerous cells have spread to about 1 to 3 axillary lymph nodes.

Stage 3B: The stage wherein the tumor invades the skin or the chest wall and may or may not have affected up to 9 lymph nodes of the area.

Stage 3C: In this stage, cancer is found in more than 10 axillary lymph nodes typically surrounding the collarbone, or the internal mammary nodes.

Stage 4 breast cancer

This is typically the last and the most dangerous stage of cancer. Here, the tumor can be of any size, and its cells have spread to surrounding and distant lymph nodes along with adjoining organs as well.

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