Survival is an important indicator for monitoring the final outcome of breast cancer and evaluating the effectiveness of treatment, and tumor stage at the time of breast cancer diagnosis significantly affects the length of patient survival.
How is clinical staging of breast cancer performed?
- Stage 0: Carcinoma in situ (including ductal carcinoma in situ and lobular carcinoma in situ) and papillary Paget’s disease without a mass.
- Stage I: maximum tumor diameter ≤2 cm, no adhesion to the skin, no regional lymph node metastasis.
- Stage IIA: maximum tumor diameter ≤2 cm, ipsilateral axillary lymph node metastasis is movable; or maximum tumor diameter >2 cm, but ≤5 cm, no regional lymph node metastasis.
- Stage IIB: maximum tumor diameter >2 cm, but ≤5 cm, ipsilateral axillary lymph node metastasis can be mobile; or maximum tumor diameter >5 cm, no regional lymph node metastasis.
- Stage IIIA: maximum tumor diameter >5 cm, ipsilateral axillary lymph node metastasis movable; maximum tumor diameter >5 cm, ipsilateral axillary lymph node metastasis, fixed fusion with each other or clinical finding of ipsilateral internal breast lymph node metastasis.
- Stage IIIB: direct invasion of the chest wall or skin regardless of tumor size, ipsilateral axillary lymph node metastasis, fixed fusion with each other or clinically detected ipsilateral internal mammary lymph node metastasis.
- Stage IIIC: ipsilateral supraclavicular or subclavicular lymph node metastasis with or without axillary lymph node metastasis, regardless of tumor size; or ipsilateral internal breast lymph node metastasis and axillary lymph node metastasis were found clinically.
- Stage IV: Distant metastasis is present regardless of tumor size and lymph node status.
5-year survival rate for breast cancer by clinical stage
- Stage 0: The average 5-year survival rate is 100%, and almost all patients are cured.
- Stage I: The average 5-year survival rate is about 95%, and the majority of patients will be cured.
- Stage IIA: The 5-year average survival rate is about 90%, and the majority of patients are cured.
- Stage IIB: The 5-year average survival rate is about 80%, and most patients will be cured.
- Stage IIIA: The average 5-year survival rate is about 50% to 70%, and many patients are likely to be cured.
- Stages IIIB and IIIC: The 5-year average survival rate is about 40% to 50%, and some patients are likely to be cured.
- Stage IV: The 5-year survival rate is <1%, with an average survival of about 2 years, and very few patients are likely to be cured.
It is important to note that the 5-year survival rate is only a clinical indicator used by physicians to evaluate the effectiveness of surgery and treatment and does not reflect the specific survival time of patients, but it does reflect the proportion of patients who have come close to a cure.
Of course, the above is only the impact of clinical stage of breast cancer on outcome. There are many other factors that affect the survival of breast cancer patients, such as age, menstrual status, fertility and breastfeeding, family history, hormone receptor status, molecular biology indicators, and aggressive treatment after recurrence. The key point remains to enhance screening and self-examination to enable early diagnosis and effective treatment.