Breast cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosed in women, right after skin cancer. By spreading awareness about the disease, the survival rates have seen a surge. So, here’s a brief about what you need to know about the stages and symptoms of breast cancer.

Stages of breast cancer
To know the stage of cancer, there are certain details which the doctors will need. These will include the following:

• Whether or not the cancer is invasive
• The size of the tumor
• Whether or not cancer has reached the lymph nodes
• Whether or not cancer has reached nearby organs or tissues

Based on these details, there are five stages of breast cancer.

Stage 0 of breast cancer
This is the stage where the cancer is noninvasive. At this stage, there are no signs of the cancer cells or the non-cancerous abnormal cells spreading from the breasts – the place from which they started. The cells have also not invaded the nearby normal tissues.

Stage I of breast cancer
At this stage, cancer has become invasive, and it is categorized into subcategorized – stage IA and IB.

At stage IA, the tumor is about two centimeters big, and the cancer cells are yet to spread outside the breasts.

At stage IB, no tumor can be found in the breasts. Rather there are tiny groups of cancerous cells that can be found in the lymph nodes. 

Stage II of breast cancer
At stage IIA, the tumor has not grown bigger than two centimeters, and it has reached one to three lymph nodes. Or the tumor is between two and five centimeters and hasn’t reached the nearby lymph nodes. 

At stage IIB, the tumor is anywhere between two and five centimeters in size and has reached lymph nodes in the armpit. Or the tumor has grown bigger than five centimeters and has not reached the lymph nodes.

Stage III of breast cancer
At stage IIIA, the cancer has reached and affected between four and nine lymph nodes in the armpit. It could have also made the internal mammary lymph nodes to enlarge. By the time it is at this stage, the primary tumor could have reached any size.

At stage IIIB, the tumor has reached the wall of the skin or the chest.

By the time it is at stage IIIC, the cancer cells have reached 10 or even more than 10 armpit lymph nodes, lymph nodes around the collarbone, or the internal mammary nodes.

Stage IV of breast cancer
At the stage, the tumor can be of any size, and the cell would have reached both nearby as well as distant lymph nodes and organs.

Symptoms of breast cancer
The stages and symptoms of breast cancer can be related. In the initial stages, the condition might not cause any symptoms. But as it progresses, the symptoms can start to get evident. Breast cancer symptoms can vary from individual to individual. These can include the following:

• Formation of a new lump under the armpit or the breast
• Swelling of some part of the breast
• Dimpling or irritation caused on the breast skin
• The flakiness of the breast skin
• Bloody discharge from the nipple
• Changes in size or shape of the breasts
• Pain in the breast area