triple negative and staging

I think he means is...they just treat it more aggressively upfront. I suprised they have you at IIb with a node tested positive.  I though that made IIIb?

Flalady

 I had node involvement at dx I was IIIb and spread to skin than stage IV now only in chset wall back to stage III by one doctors standards and still stage IV by the other.

(I should say after my 7th recurrence they now consider me stage IV.)

Flalady

Tripleneg doesn't enter into staging because it is not a unit of measurement.

When they stage a cancer they study the size of the tumor, the type of tumor, whether or not nodes were involved, and how fast the tumor divided.

For example, they could see a 2 centimeter tumor that is ductal cancer, no nodes, and the grade or rate of cell division was medium grade.

They then check to see if it is estrogen and progesterone positive or negative and if it is positive for the Her2nue oncogene.

While these things are important in the the treatment and chemo choices, they are not part of the staging.

I hope this helps.

g 

Hi All,

Here's some information about staging for state II and III=

• The tumor is no more than 2 centimeters (three-quarters of an inch) across. The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.
• The tumor is between 2 and 5 centimeters (three-quarters of an inch to 2 inches). The cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.
• The tumor is between 2 and 5 centimeters (three-quarters of an inch to 2 inches). The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm
• The tumor is larger than 5 centimeters (2 inches). The cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.

• Stage IIIA is one of the following:
  • The tumor is no more than 5 centimeters (2 inches) across. The cancer has spread to underarm lymph nodes that are attached to each other or to other structures. Or the cancer may have spread to lymph nodes behind the breastbone.
  • The tumor is more than 5 centimeters across. The cancer has spread to underarm lymph nodes that are either alone or attached to each other or to other structures. Or the cancer may have spread to lymph nodes behind the breastbone.
• Stage IIIB is a tumor of any size that has grown into the chest wall or the skin of the breast. It may be associated with swelling of the breast or with nodules (lumps) in the breast skin.
  • The cancer may have spread to lymph nodes under the arm.
  • The cancer may have spread to underarm lymph nodes that are attached to each other or other structures. Or the cancer may have spread to lymph nodes behind the breastbone.
  • Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare type of breast cancer. The breast looks red and swollen because cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. When a doctor diagnoses inflammatory breast cancer, it is at least Stage IIIB, but it could be more advanced.
• Stage IIIC is a tumor of any size. It has spread in one of the following ways:
  • The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes behind the breastbone and under the arm.
  • The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes above or below the collarbone.
  Sadie

Cathy,

Being triple negative can be a good thing and a bad thing. It is my understanding that triple negative cancers are more aggressive but this makes them possibly more susceptible to the chemo and hopefully easier to cure. The recurrence rate for trip negs is higher than er/pr+ for the first 5 years but then drops to about equal. This rate could be higher because there is not a drug like tamoxen to help us after chemo. If we make it thru the first 3 - 5 years without recurrence we are less likely to have a recurrence 10 years down the road than say er+ cancer. That is because trip neg is more aggressive and faster growing. These are the things my doctors have told me so far about being triple negative.

So good and bad go along with having any type of bc as far as I can see.  I just wish none of us had any type of bc.

Wink