After a diagnosis of breast cancer, the cancer is staged. Staging classifies cancer according to a standardized system, using characteristics of the tumor, lymph nodes and whether any metastases have occurred. The stage of breast cancer helps guide treatment options and prognosis. Breast cancer stages range from Stage 0 to Stage IV, in order of ascending severity and some stages have sub-stages, marked with letters, like Stage IIIC.
Significance
The National Cancer Institute estimates that in 2009, approximately 1,910 men and 192,370 women received a diagnosis of breast cancer in the United States. That same year, more than 40,000 women and 440 men died of the disease.
Features
According to the American Cancer Society, Stage IIIC breast cancer consists of a tumor of any size. It also includes 10 or more underarm cancerous lymph nodes, cancerous lymph nodes under or above the clavicle, cancerous underarm lymph nodes and swollen mammary lymph nodes. Other indications of Stage IIIC include cancer that has spread to four or more underarm lymph nodes and mammary lymph nodes that have microscopic amounts of cancer when biopsied. Inflammatory breast cancer, or IBC, may be diagnosed as Stage IIIC cancer, depending on the extent of the disease. IBC has no one lump; symptoms of this cancer include redness and swelling of the breast, thickened, textured skin on the breast and warmth emanating from the breast. Distant organs remain cancer-free, and no metastases have occurred.
Identification
To assess the spread of breast cancer, various tests may prove necessary. A CT scan and MRI can help identify any other tumors in the breasts and ultrasound can help find tumors in other areas of the body, like the liver. A PET scan can help identify cancer throughout the body if the cancer is suspected to have spread to other places, but the exact areas remain unknown. Lymph node biopsies may help to assess the spread of cancer throughout the lymph system.
Treatment
There are five standard treatments for breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute, and these include surgery; radiation therapy, which involves the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells; chemotherapy, which uses anti-cancer drugs to stop cancer cell replication and kill cancer cells; hormone therapy, which stops hormones from promoting cancer growth and targeted therapy, which uses drugs to target substances on cancer cells and kills them.
For operable Stage IIIC breast cancer, treatments that the National Cancer Institute lists include breast-conserving surgery, which removes the tumor and a surrounding margin of healthy normal tissue and radiation therapy; modified radical mastectomy; or a clinical trial. Post-surgery, additional therapy might include radiation therapy, hormone therapy if the cancer is hormone-receptor positive or chemotherapy. Inoperable Stage IIIC breast cancer may be treated with chemotherapy, chemotherapy plus surgery and radiation therapy or clinical trials of new medications.
Time Frame
The five-year survival rate or the rate of individuals alive five years after diagnosis, is 57 percent for all Stage III breast cancers, according to the American Cancer Society, and does not differentiate between sub-stages.
