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Dr. Alice Chung
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What Are The Breast Cancer Stages? - Dr. Chung (VIDEO)

Dr. Chung discusses the stages of breast cancer.

Dr. Chung:
So a lot of times patients will want to know about the different stages of breast cancer and where do they fall. Stage 0 breast cancer is a non-invasive type of breast cancer. It’s known as ductal carcinoma in situ, and this type of breast cancer does not have the ability to travel to the rest of the body. It’s found within the ducts of the breast and it can, the natural history of this is that if you leave it untreated, potentially it can convert to an invasive type of breast cancer, or it can just spread on its own as a stage 0 breast cancer.

This is the earliest type of breast cancer a woman can have, and it is very curable. The cure rate is about 99%, survival rate is about 99% if they are treated with, you know, the recommended treatments. Someone who has a stage 1 cancer still has a very early cancer. In this case, the tumor size is still less than 2 centimeters, and the lymph nodes are not involved. The survival of someone with stage 1 long-term is in the upper 90s as well.

So someone with a stage 2 cancer, at this point the lymph nodes are usually involved. If there is no lymph node involvement, that means that the tumor size is probably greater than 2 centimeters and in this case, the long-term survival is probably in the upper 80s.

So for someone who has a stage 3 cancer, which usually involves some kind of lymph node involvement and a larger tumor, the long-term survival is anywhere between 65-75% percent.

And finally with stage 4, the long-term survival is probably, I would say they’d give at this point five-year survivals in the 50% range.

About Dr. Alice Chung, M.D.:
Alice Chung is a surgeon specializing in breast cancer at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center, and a guest lecturer on the health and welfare of women. Using her expertise as a member of the American Society of Breast Disease and the Society of Surgical Oncology, Chung has performed numerous surgeries, authored countless studies on the field of breast surgery and presented on such diverse topics as nutrition, imaging and metastases. Highly skilled at sparing mastectomies and other surgical procedures related to breast cancer surgery, Chung has dedicated her practice to helping women everywhere.

For More Information On Breast Cancer And Saint John's Health Center Visit http://www.stjohns.org/

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