Early stage breast cancer includes stages 1, 2a, 2b, and 3a. The size of the tumor and the extent of lymph node involvement determine the stage. Stage 3a may not have cancer in the breast but has spread to axillary lymph nodes.
Early stage breast cancer includes stage 1, stage 2a, stage 2b, and stage 3a breast cancer. In these early stages, the cancer has infected lymph nodes near the breast. The cancer, however, has not spread to other parts of the body. Health specialists sometimes talk about non-invasive breast cancer, which refers only to stage 0 cancer. Early stage breast cancer is considered invasive.
The various stages of early stage breast cancer are determined by a number of factors. The most important of these factors are the size of the tumor and the extent to which the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. The stage of the cancer is determined by a specialist or doctor in the early detection of breast cancer.
In stage 1 early-stage breast cancer, the tumor has grown to a size of 0.8 inches (2 cm). At this stage, the cancer has already begun to invade tissue near the tumor. At this point, the lymph nodes have not yet been invaded by cancer.
Stage 2a breast cancer occurs when the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. Most often, the lymph nodes located under the arm will be infected. In some cases, this stage will be diagnosed when the lymph nodes are not infected. In this case, the tumor will have grown more than 0.8 inches (2 cm). To be stage 2a, however, the tumor cannot have exceeded 2 cm in size.
When the cancer is larger than 2 inches (5 cm) but hasn’t spread to the lymph nodes, this is considered stage 2b breast cancer. A health specialist or doctor might also diagnose a patient with stage 2b breast cancer when the tumor has invaded the axillary lymph nodes but the tumor has not yet grown larger than 2 cm.
Stage 3a breast cancer is used to describe the stage where there may not be any cancer in the breast itself, although the cancer has spread to the axillary lymph nodes and may be making a cluster. In some cases, underarm lymph nodes may adhere to other structures within the body. This stage is also used to describe tumors that are at most 2 inches (5 cm) in size. In these cases, the cancer has begun to spread to the axillary lymph nodes. This stage of early breast cancer could also be diagnosed when the tumor is larger than 2cm, although in these cases the cancer has not yet spread to the lymph nodes around the breastbone.
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