Following your diagnosis of Breast Cancer, your consultant will usually want to carry out further tests and investigations to accurately diagnose the type of cancer you may have and to find out the stage and the grade of the cancer, which helps them determine the best treatment plan for you.
Staging
Your consultant may require you to get further scans and tests to detect the stage of your cancer. Staging defines the size of it and whether it has spread beyond its original site.
The two most commonly used systems for staging are a numbering system or the TNM staging system.
- T describes the size of the tumour
- N describes whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes
- M describes whether the cancer has spread to another part of the body (metastatic or secondary cancer)
Grading
To identify the grade, your consultant will examine the cancer cells under a microscope to compare them to the normal cells. This gives your consultant an idea of how quickly the disease may develop.
The grading system mainly used:
- Grade 1 or low-grade or well differentiated – The cancer cells look similar to normal cells and usually grow slowly and are less likely to spread.
- Grade 2 or moderate-or intermediate-grade – The cancer cells look more abnormal and are slightly faster growing.
- Grade 3 or high-grade or poorly differentiated – The cancer cells look very different from normal cells and may grow more quickly.