Stage 3 Breast Cancer

What is stage 3 breast cancer? An abnormal cell mass that develops when controls of the cell cycle and cell division malfunction is called a neoplasm. However, not all neoplasms are cancerous. Benign neoplasms are strictly local affairs. They tend to be surrounded by a capsule, grow slowly, and seldom kill their hosts if they are removed before they compress vital organs.

In contrast, malignant (cancerous) neoplasms are nonencapsulated masses that grow more relentlessly and may become killers. Their cells reassemble immature cells, and they invade their surroundings rather than pushing them aside. Malignant cells also tend to spread via the blood to distant parts of the body, where they form new masses. This last capability is called metastasis.

The stage of your cancer is classified upon the size of the tumor, invasive or non-invasive, the cancer cells have spread to nearby lymph glands or it has already spread outside the breast and to other organs. There are 4 stages in breast cancer and Stage 3 breast cancer is subdivided into 3 groups in terms of severity: 3A, 3B, 3C.

Stage 3A = invasive breast cancers have cancer cells that can be found in axillary lymph nodes and they may be found clumped together sticking to other structures. It may have spread to lymph nodes sizing more or less 5 centimeters.

Stage 3B = in this stage, the cancer cell may be of any size. You can find them now in the skin or the chest walls or lymph nodes near the breastbone.

Stage 3C = invasive breast cancer in which there may be no sign of cancer in the breast. It has already spread above or below the collarbone or to lymph nodes near the breast bone.

Basically, the tumor in stage 3 breast cancer has already spread to the lymph nodes of your armpit and not on the other organs in your body with cancer cells stuck together.