How is breast cancer divided into early, middle and late stages? Why is there a big difference in early, middle and late prognosis?

In the era of “talking about cancer discoloration”, people are extremely afraid of breast cancer, especially advanced breast cancer cancer. When unfortunately diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, many patients feel that their time is short and the prognosis is extremely poor.

In fact, such a phenomenon is not uncommon. People have such views on breast cancer:Late stage The prognosis of breast cancer is far worse than that of early and mid-stage breast cancer, so I am very afraid of advanced breast cancer.

So, how are the early, middle and late stages of breast cancer divided? What causes the prognosis of advanced breast cancer to be far worse than that of early and mid-stage breast cancer?

< span>How to divide early, middle and late breast cancer?

Currently, TNM The staging system is the most widely used tumor staging system in the medical field today.

In the TNM staging system, T represents the size of the tumor, N represents whether the lymph nodes have metastasized and the number of metastases, and M represents whether there is distant organ metastasis.

Through comprehensive analysis of TNM, the stage of breast cancer can be judged, namely Phase I, Phase II, Phase III, Phase IV.

  • Stage Iis when the breast cancer is confined to the breast, The size does not exceed 2cm, and no lymph node metastasis;
  • < strong>Stage IIrefers to breasttumor size between 2-5cm, and the tumor may have metastasized to the axillary lymph nodes;
  • Stage IIImeans< /span>The size of the tumor exceeds 5cm, it may transfer to the armpit and nearby lymph nodes, and local skin changes may occur;
  • Phase IVrefers to tumor cellstransferred to other organs of the body such as bones, lungs, liver, brain, etc.

Combined with the American Cancer Institute SEER database for tumor The explanation of early, middle and late stages shows that the early, middle and late stages of breast cancer are divided as follows:

  • Early stage:means that the tumor is confined to the organ without invading the surrounding area or lymph node metastasis. Usually, it is equivalent to stage I and some stage II in the TNM staging of breast cancer.
  • Mid-term: It means that the tumor has invaded the surrounding organs, or there is lymph node metastasis. Usually, it is equivalent to some stages II and III in the TNM staging of breast cancer.
  • Late stage: refers to the tumor with distant metastasis, usually, quite TNM points for breast cancerPhase IV of the period.

The reason for the large difference in the prognosis of early, middle and late breast cancer

According to the data of American Cancer Statistics, 5 The annual survival rates were: 98% for stage I, 92% for stage II, 75% for stage III, and 27% for stage IV.

Combined with the above, we can see that stage IV corresponds to the late stage Breast cancer, compared with early and mid-stage breast cancer, the prognosis of advanced breast cancer is very unsatisfactory. The main reason for this phenomenon is thatdifferent stages of breast cancer have different infiltration ranges; for advanced breast cancer with distant metastasis Breast cancer has limited treatment options.

1. The range of tumor infiltration is different< /p>

Early breast cancer tumors are confined to the organs without invading surrounding tissues and organs, and there is no lymph node metastasis.

Patients with this stage of breast cancer can completely resect the tumor to the greatest extent through surgery, and cooperate with postoperative endocrine therapy and chemotherapy to consolidate the curative effect. It is expected to achieve clinical cure.

Therefore, in general, early breast cancer has a better prognosis, with a five-year survival rate usually as high as 90%.

Tumors have appeared in mid-stage breast cancer Invasion to surrounding organs or lymph node metastasis.

Because of the different degrees of tumor invasion and metastasis, some patients with breast cancer at this stage cannot completely remove the tumor through surgery and postoperatively The risk of recurrence is higher than that of early breast cancer.

So, in general, breast cancer in the middle stage has a worse prognosis than breast cancer in the early stage.

Advanced breast cancer has distant metastasis, and the scope of tumor infiltration is much larger than that of early and mid-stage breast cancer.

Due to the large range of tumor infiltration, the scope of surgery and the limitation of indicators, most patients are in a long-term state with tumors, and due to tumor Metastasis brings various symptoms that greatly affect the quality of life.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, the prognosis of advanced breast cancer is far worse than that of early and mid-stage breast cancer, and the five-year survival rate is relatively low.

2. Available treatments are limited< /span>

Currently, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy are the main methods for treating tumors Way. Among them, surgical treatment is considered to be the most promising treatment method to achieve clinical cure of tumors.

However, due to differences in tumor stages and patients’ own tolerance, not all breast cancer patients at all stages can use the above-mentioned treatment methods.

Usually, early and mid-stage breast cancer due to relatively small tumor invasion and patient tolerance The degree is relatively high.In general, surgical resection of the tumor can be used for treatment.

After surgery, according to the tumor sensitivity and the patient’s physical condition, Consolidating the curative effect through chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy is considered, so the prognosis of patients with early and mid-stage breast cancer is relatively ideal.

And Due to the relatively large range of tumor infiltration in patients with advanced breast cancer, surgical treatment is usually aimed at reducing tumor compression and improving quality of life, and the curative effect is limited.

In general, during this period, patients have more symptoms due to tumor metastasis, and their bodies cannot tolerate the effects of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, etc. side effects, and available treatments are limited. Therefore, the prognosis of patients with advanced breast cancer is far worse than that of patients with early and mid-stage breast cancer.

In summary, Different degrees of tumor infiltration and limited treatment options are the main reasons for the large difference in prognosis between early, middle and late breast cancer patients. span>