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If you are a woman who has contracted breast cancer that has yet to metastasize you have an average five-year survival rate of about 86%. What this means is that 86% of all women who have contracted breast cancer survive the disease for at least five years. Though that number is extremely high it is merely an overall average. In many categories the numbers are greater, and the survival rates are better. These numbers of course depend on which stage individuals detect their cancer and seek medical treatment. Just like other forms of cancer, individuals develop breast cancer in stages. Each stage is labeled with both a letter and a number. The cancer types are labeled based on a classification system that has become a cancer standard. These labels are (T, N, and MO and are scaled from 0-IV). A cancer that has been deemed A T is indicative of the cancers size, the N means that the cancer has spread to the individual's lymph nodes and M means distant metastasis. Metastasis means that a tumor is spreading from its primary location to secondary locations throughout the body forming the same tumor types in other locations. TX tumors are those that can not yet be assessed at all. T0 designates a situation in which there's no evidence of the cancer at all. Tis indicates one that may be of type DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), LCIS (lobular carcinoma in situ) or Paget's disease (a rare form in which the nipple and/or areola is cancerous). Stage 0 cancers are the earliest of all. In Stage I, tumors are less than 2cm in size and have not spread. Stage II indicates a tumor that is 2-5cm in diameter, and Stage III one larger than 5cm. A Stage IV tumor has become attached to the chest wall and spread to the lymph nodes. Fortunately, thanks to improved diagnosis and treatment methods, many more breast cancers are caught and eliminated in the very early stages. For women and men who are treated while their cancer is in Stage 0 or Stage I the chances of an individual surviving for five years is about 100%. Men are also capable of contracting breast cancer; the rate at which men can contract the disease is much less than women. Individuals suffering with Stage II cancers have survival rates ranging between 81% and 92%. The survival rate doesn't dip until you get to Stage III at which point the rate is around 67%. If an individual has Stage IV cancer it is about 20%. Of course, many women and men do beat the odds. Even many of those in later stages survive significantly longer than seven years. As diagnostic techniques and treatment methods continue to improve the numbers do as well. As medical knowledge advances, more and more on the lower end of the category move into the upper reaches. A new diagnostic technique is the QM-MSP (quantitative multiplex metylation-specific PCR). This technique was discovered in 2001, and it is a chemical test that utilizes the fluid from an individual's breast. It then analyzes the chemicals attached to specific genes. Cancer clumps that are as small as 50 cells can be detected with an 86% rate of reliability. These new methods make cancer detection extremely possible, improving the chances of treatments that are successful. Treatments are also becoming better. Now available are hormone therapy, drugs that are molecule specific, and targeted radiation. These incredible methods are capable of saving the lives of tons of individuals. Breast cancer is not a pleasant disease. It will always be an extremely serious disease. Breast cancer does not have to be life threatening. Breast cancer doesn't even have to permanently scar. Breast cancer does not have to be fatal any longer.
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