The stage of a cancer describes the size of a tumour and how far it has spread from where it originated. The grade describes the appearance of the cancerous cells. If you're diagnosed with cancer, you may have more tests to help determine how far it has progressed.
To learn the stage of your disease, your doctor may order x-rays, lab tests, and other tests or procedures. A cancer is always referred to by the stage it was given at diagnosis, even if it gets worse or spreads. New information about how a cancer has changed over time is added to the original stage.
Tumor size is strongly related to prognosis (chances for survival). In general, the smaller the tumor, the better the prognosis tends to be [12].
3A: The tumor is smaller than 5 cm but has spread to between 4 to 9 nodes. The tumor is larger than 5 cm and has spread to 1 to 9 nodes.
In stage 2 breast cancer, the tumor measures between 2 cm and 5 cm, or the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm on the same side as the breast cancer.
Stage II breast cancer
the tumor measures 2 cm or smaller and has spread to the axillary lymph nodes or. the tumor is larger than 2 cm but not larger than 5 cm and has not spread to the axillary lymph nodes.
The size of the tumour
The tumour size will affect prognosis no matter how many lymph nodes have cancer in them.
Stage IIB: The tumor is 2 to 5 cm and the disease has spread to 1 to 3 axillary lymph nodes.
T1a tumors are over 1 mm and no more than 5 mm in diameter. T1b tumors are over 5 mm and no more than 10 mm in diameter. T1c tumors are greater than 10 millimeters and no more than 20 millimeters. The tumor is larger than 20 millimeters (2 centimeters) and no more than 50 millimeters (5 centimeters).
Stage 1A means that the cancer is 2 centimetres (cm) or smaller and has not spread outside the breast.
For brain or lung metastasis, the larger the tumor, the more likely it was to develop metastasis. For liver metastasis, patients with a tumor size of 3–7 cm were more prone to develop liver metastasis. For bone metastasis, patients with a tumor size ≥7 cm were more likely to have bone metastasis.
Malignant tumors can grow quickly and spread to other parts of the body in a process called metastasis. However, not all malignant tumors grow quickly; some can grow much slower over time.
The mean tumor size was 1.9 cm (range, 0.5–4.9 cm). The overall accuracy of tumor size measurement was 76.4% (104 of 140). Tumors of women with a homo- geneous background parenchymal echotexture were more accurately measured than those of women with a heterogeneous echotexture (87.0% versus 63.5%; P5.
Assuming that the growth rate of a tumor is constant before diagnosis and after surgery (but before a local recurrence), one can use the time to local recurrence to estimate the tumor's age.
Symptoms of Metastatic Cancer
pain and fractures, when cancer has spread to the bone. headache, seizures, or dizziness, when cancer has spread to the brain. shortness of breath, when cancer has spread to the lung. jaundice or swelling in the belly, when cancer has spread to the liver.
While a grade describes the appearance of cancer cells and tissue, a cancer's stage explains how large the primary tumor is and how far the cancer has spread in the patient's body.
Tumors can be classified as benign or malignant. Benign tumors are those that stay in their primary location without invading other sites of the body. They do not spread to local structures or to distant parts of the body. Benign tumors tend to grow slowly and have distinct borders.
There are various methods to determine tumor size including palpation on physical examination and breast-imaging studies such as mammography, ultrasound, and more recently MRI. Pathology however is considered to be the gold standard method for measurement of tumor size.
Tumor sizes are often measured in centimeters (cm) or inches. Common food items that can be used to show tumor size in cm include: a pea (1 cm), a peanut (2 cm), a grape (3 cm), a walnut (4 cm), a lime (5 cm or 2 inches), an egg (6 cm), a peach (7 cm), and a grapefruit (10 cm or 4 inches).
The percentage of benign tumors decreased from 37.5% for those less than 1 cm to 7.1% for tumors 7 cm or greater.
Doctors assign the stage of the cancer by combining the T, N, and M classifications (see above). Stage I: The tumor is 7 cm or smaller and is only located in the kidney. It has not spread to the lymph nodes or distant organs (T1, N0, M0). Stage II: The tumor is larger than 7 cm and is only located in the kidney.
Although there are no curable cancers, melanoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, and breast, prostate, testicular, cervical, and thyroid cancer have some of the highest 5-year relative survival rates.
But as a tumour grows, it needs more blood to bring oxygen and other nutrients to the cancer cells. So cancer cells send signals for a tumour to make new blood vessels. This is called angiogenesis and it is one of the reasons that tumours grow and get bigger.
Breast cancer: Women with breast cancer have an overall 30% chance of recurrence. Many cases happen within five years of completing the initial treatment. Cervical cancer: Of those with invasive cervical cancer, an estimated 35% will have a recurrence.