The cancer has a different prognosis and treatment depending on the stage of development that are in and the risk factors that women have. For this we must perform a series of analysis to facilitate their classification in one or another stage.
The American Joint Committee on Cancer uses the TNM classification system:
* The letter T, followed by a number ranging from 0 to 4 indicates the size of the tumor and spread to the skin or chest wall under the breast. A higher number corresponds to a larger tumor and / or a higher spread to nearby tissues.
* The letter N, followed by a number ranging from 0 to 3 indicates whether the cancer has spread to lymph nodes near the breast and, if so, whether these nodes are attached to other structures.
* The letter M, followed by a 0 or 1, stated whether the cancer has spread to distant organs.
The classification for subgroups is done with numbers ranging from I to IV.
Stage I: indicates that the tumor is less than 2 cm and no metastasis. The relative survival rate 5 years is 98%.
Stage II: includes the following situations:
- No larger than 2 cm but the lymph nodes under the arm are affected.
- Measure 2 to 5 cm and may or may not have spread.
- It is more than 5 cm but the axillary lymph nodes are not affected. The survival rate at 5 years is 88-76%.
