Breast cancer is a common cancer among women, but men can also get the disease. Breast cancer begins as a tumor in the breast's cells. Signs and symptoms may take some time to appear. A painless lump is often the first sign. Breast cancer is measured in stages.

Significance

Breast cancer stage is based on the size of the tumor, if the cancer is invasive or not, if lymph nodes are affected, and if the cancer has spread beyond the breast. This helps better understand the cancer and how to treat it.

Identification

Stage III breast cancer is divided into three subcategories referred to as IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC. Stage IIIA denotes invasive breast cancer where a tumor is not found in the breast, but cancer is found in axillary lymph nodes, or where a tumor measuring less or greater than 5 cm is present in the breast, and may or may not have spread to lymph nodes.

Stage IIIB

Stage IIIB characterizes invasive breast cancer where the tumor (of any size) has spread to the chest wall and/or the skin of the breast. The cancer may also have spread to axillary lymph nodes. Stage IIIB is often referred to as inflammatory breast cancer.

Stage IIIC

In Stage IIIC, the breast cancer is invasive. No sign of cancer may be present in the breast. If a tumor is present, it can measure any size and may have spread to the chest wall, breast skin, lymph nodes above or below the collarbone or the lymph nodes near the breast.

Potential

Chemotherapy, surgery, hormone therapy, radiation therapy, and clinical trials are options of treatments for Stage III breast cancer. Biological therapy, is a new treatment that involves the drug Herceptin. This drug has been approved to treat women with metastatic breast cancer that is HER2-positive.

Source:

Cancer: org: What is Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer.org: Stages of Breast Cancer

National Cancer Institute: Inflammatory Breast Cancer