Stage II Breast Cancer Information
What is stage 2 breast cancer?
Stage 2 breast cancer denotes a little bit more progressed type of breast cancer. In stage II breast cancer, the cancerous cells have extended past the initial site and into the neighboring breast cells. At this phase, the malignant growth is bigger than stage I ailment. Nonetheless, stage 2 breast cancer denotes that the cancerous cells have not yet spread further into the body.
The 8 year stage 2 breast cancer survival rate is roughly 70 percent. This means that a majority of women with stage II breast cancer will live for a minimum of 8 years once they have been diagnosed. However, most of the women diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer normally live longer than the estimated 8 years.
At this stage, the malignant tumor is identified as a hard growth in the breast during breast self-examination. It is important for one to consistently do regular breast self-examination and go for regular screening from time to time as these are crucial in identifying the tumor at an early stage.
Stage 2 breast cancer is a little more complex. It indicates that the malignant tumor is a bit bigger and might have begun to the cancerous cells to look for more places to thrive in. If this is the case, then the cancerous cells may have moves as far as the lymph nodes, and as such are confined in that region and are hindered from affecting other organs in the body.
Stage 2 breast cancer can be categorized into:
- Stage 2A
- Stage 2B
Breast cancer stage 2A
In this stage:
- The cancerous cells are not bigger than two centimeters in dimension. However, they have already reached the lymph nodes found beneath the armpit.
- The cancerous cells may vary between two and five centimeters in dimension. Nevertheless, they have not reached the lymph nodes beneath the armpit.
Breast cancer stage 2 B
In this stage:
- The cancerous cells measure between two and five centimeters in dimension and have already reached the lymph nodes found beneath the armpit.
- The cancerous cells are bigger than five centimeters and have not yet reached the lymph nodes found underneath the armpit.
Once the cancerous cells have spread to the lymph nodes, the only treatment is surgery. Mastectomy and lumpectomy are the types of surgeries used to treat breast cancer stage 2. The surgeries are usually followed by chemotherapy as well as radiation. Radiation is usually administered so as to make certain that the cancerous cells are eliminated totally. Chemotherapy is given to the patient just in case the cancerous cells managed to break past the lymph barriers. Given that chemo is designed to flow throughout the body, it functions in destroying the cancerous cells that may be in other parts of the body.The type of treatment that you receive will not only be determined by you, but your physician as well.
Given that there are different variants of breast cancer, it is important to point out that there is no single treatment that can cure all of them. Most physicians will recommend carrying out chemotherapy prior to a surgical procedure. While this might not denote anything, your physician would want to shrink the malignant tumor and slay the cancerous cells prior to getting rid of the growth.
The recurrence of stage 2 breast cancer is less than 50 percent, the smaller the lump, the lesser the likelihood of the growth coming back. If there are no nodes detected and the malignant tumor is small, the recurrence rate over a period of twenty years is around 33 percent. However, if the swelling is bigger or the cancerous cells have already spread past the original lump, the recurrence is approximately 44 percent.
There are no medical proofs to suggest which types of swellings are likely to recur. It is for this reason that chemotherapy is usually administered in all patients diagnosed with breast cancer stage 2. There could be likelihood that you do not require chemo – that each single cancerous cell has been eliminated through surgery. Nonetheless, your physician will not want to take the risk of enhancing the chance of a recurrence by avoiding chemotherapy.
The following are the up-to-date stage 2 breast cancer survival rate:
- Stage 2A – 88 percent.
- Stage 2B – 76 percent.
Note that, when you are going through these figures, the medications that are being utilized to cure breast cancer have greatly improved over the past 10 years. As such, these statistics do not necessarily apply to persons that are currently being diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancers. Most survivors of stage 3 breast cancer and stage 4 breast cancers are likely to live past the estimated five year mark. Hence, you should not allow statistics to scare you.
Breast cancer is just like any other disease. Thanks to improved technology, there are now a number of tools that are being used in the research process to help come up with better medication. There was an era when stage 2 breast cancer prognosis was akin to a death sentence. However, this has changed. Even if you do have a recurrence of breast cancer stage 2, you can still lead a healthy and normal life. With proper medication accompanied by good diet, you can prolong your life by at least 10 years.
As pointed out earlier, the earlier the disease is diagnosed, the better the chances of survival. In a bid to increase awareness on breast cancer, most hospitals are now holding free clinics where one can go and determine whether they are suffering from breast cancer and what they can do to prevent it. It is important to attend these clinics whenever they are held in your area. In addition, you need to learn how to do breast self-test. By doing so, you can be in a position to detect the disease at an early stage thereby allowing you to seek for a better treatment other than surgery.
{ 0 comments }