Breast cancer is a prevalent and potentially devastating disease. Breast cancer begins with a small tumor growth within the breast tissue. In the early stages, the cancer is minimally invasive and remains contained within the breast tissue and lymph nodes. At later stages, harmful changes with the breast cancer cells occur that allow for more aggressive cancer growth. The end stages of breast cancer are painful and damaging, and may prove fatal.
Invasion of Neighboring Tissues
An end stage of breast cancer occurs when cancer cells spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes into neighboring tissues. Often, the cancer will spread into the chest muscles underneath the tumor and to the skin overlying the breast. The lymph nodes are also highly colonized by cancer tissue, so that the lymph nodes are enlarged and matted together, and also stick to the overlying skin. Cancer at this stage is called stage IIIB cancer, according to BreastCancer.org.
Breast cancer at this stage may be treated with a radical mastectomy. This surgical procedure removes all of the breast tissue, as well as the overlying skin and underlying chest muscles, and all of the lymph nodes surrounding the breast. Patients may also undergo a combination of chemotherapy, targeted or hormone therapies or radiation therapy to kill any remaining cancer cells.
Further Spreading to Lymph Nodes
If a stage IIIB cancer is allowed to progress, it will develop into a stage IIIC breast cancer. Breast cancer at this stage has invaded a number of other lymph nodes surrounding the breast. Earlier stage breast cancers may have a spread of cancer cells to the lymph nodes in the armpit, with no signs of cancer in lymph nodes above and below the collarbone or around the breast bone. In Stage IIIC breast cancer, both of these lymph node populations may be colonized with breast cancer cells.
The National Cancer Institute indicates that stage IIIC breast cancers may be operable or inoperable. Operable stage IIIC breast cancers have cancer in the lymph nodes under the collarbone, close to the breastbone, and in axillary lymph nodes. Inoperable breast cancers have cancer-containing lymph nodes above the collarbone.
Metastasis
If stage IIIC breast cancer is not effectively treated, the cancer will develop into a stage IV, or metastatic breast cancer. In metastasis, the breast cancer cells break away from the tumor and circulate via the bloodstream or lymphatic system to distant tissues within the body. The cancer cells can develop new tumors in organs such as the liver, bone, brain or lungs. Metastasis indicates an extremely serious breast cancer. The American Cancer Society indicates that the majority of breast cancer patients who die of the disease have metastases, and that these metastases are usually responsible for their death.
Metastatic breast cancer may be treated with systemic treatments that will target a number of tissues at once, such as chemotherapy, hormone therapies or targeted therapy. Patients may also receive palliative therapy to alleviate pain while their cancer progresses. In some cases, pain or discomfort caused by metastasis to one region of the body can be treated with surgery.
