Does stage and grade mean the same? I was diagnosed with stage 2 but saw some paper work where it said grade 3. Confused.com! I rang hosp for conformation and they said definately grade 2. I then recently saw someone had a stage1 grade3 so am more confused. Can anyone clarify?
Staging relates to the size of the tumour ie its measurement. The bigger it is the higher the stage and whether its spread. I was also stage 2 my tumour was 25mm. The grade is how fast growing/ aggressive it is, so 1 is slow growing and treatment may not include chemo, 3 is faster growing and almost certainly requires chemo. Mine was grade 3 and I finished treatment a few weeks ago and all is well, so keep your chin up and good luck!
Hello
I wish someone could tell me that too! I’ve just had an SNB and WLE and no idea of what stage or grade I am. Somepeople are told this straightaway but I’m nearly 4 weeks from dx and have no idea but have been told whatever it is it doesn’t matter as def having chemo because I’m 39 so said they are throwing everything at me.
Anyway hope you find out.
Love fran xx
Hi shaders no grade and stage are not the same. The stage is how advanced the cancer is if it has spread to the nodes or other organs in the body. It also goes on tumour size.The grade is how changed the cells in the tumour are in relation to normal cells grade 1 is slightly changed grade 3 is the most changed but its worth remembering when they grade it my oncologist told me that even if you have only a few grade 3 cells and mostly grade 1 they have to grade it to the highest grade of cells they see .hope that makes sense and im not boggling you more.
I was stage 2 although i had no spread or node involvement but the lump size was above 2 cm( 2.6cm) to be exact. But the tumour was grade 3.
Thank you Daffodil I will ask for an explanation next time I see BC nurse. Thank you to all who have posted a response sorry posted before I saw you had!
Hi
These links might help:
breastcancercare.org.uk/breast-cancer-information/about-breast-cancer/diagnosis/cancer-stages
breastcancercare.org.uk/breast-cancer-information/about-breast-cancer/diagnosis/cancer-size-grade
HTH
Dx
P.s leeds I didnt get my staging etc untill i had my appt with oncologist and she explained and went through all my path report with me and explained treatment plan so you will probably get to know then but if not ask them … if you feel you want to know
Hi Julie,
Thanks for that! I don’t think I’ve asked lots of questions just dealing with one thing at a time. The next will be results then chemo. So I’ll speak to my BCN this week and see what she says…
Thanks again
Love fran xx
Thank you DJ and Julie. I feel like I’ve buried my head in the sand a bit. I start my chemo on Monday so hopefully I can ask some questions then. Thanks.
No prob im here for any of you if you need advice please ask i finished my treatment a year gone nov it will be two year in march since diagnosed.have a look at page 2 of starting my pink road of chemo nov for some great chemo tips that got all us girls through treatment xx hope it helps
One chemo must have is sherbert lemons ha ha for the metally taste take them to suck during chemo and drink at least 8 glasses of water or juice before and after. Eat little and often if you dont feel like eating ice-cream tonic water bread sticks and cream cheese ginger ale and flat lemonade. Ask for 1_ 2 pm appts cos by the time sickness kicks in about 4-6 hrs later i would go to bed and sleep it off. If you really sick dont suffer in silence ask for emend its fab and wish id asked before 3 rd chemo would have been much easier xx julie
Fran prior to surgery they can onky give a provisional grade and stage… This is based on the investigations and biopsy done at your assessment but after surgery and any other scans that are required they will be able to give a better idea… For he majority it’s the same, but In some cases it changes.
Eg a biopsy onky takes a tiny amount of cells and they could all contain grade 1 cells, but after the pathologist looks at the while tumour there could be grade 2 or 3 cells in it… My last biopsy was a grade 2 but final pathology showed a grade 3.
The stage is originally worked out by how big the tumour looks on Mammo and us and whether any nodes appear to be affected… Nodes are generally a stage two… But again something may look like nodes are not involved until surgery… Or that a tumour can look one size on imagining but when it’s removed it may actually be bigger or smaller… My 2nd cancer was 10mm on ultrasound… I had surgery the following day and the whole area was 29mm of which 19mm was invasive tumour… This didn’t change the stage as both were under 2cm but if it was 12mm on us and 21mm on removal it would have gone from a stage 1 to a stage 2.
They don’t tend to tell you the stage after your biopsy unless you are getting Chemo first… As they only remove the tumour after it’s treated so cannot be 100% certain of the dimensions beforehand. But eybshould b able o give you the provisional grade and th type of cancer and whether it is hormone receptive.
Lulu xx
Hello lulu!
How are you doing today?
Thank you again for your wonderful information. I’m trying not to worry about it all I know what will be will be! I know it will be hard the next few months and I’ve had so many visitors and offers of kindness. People telling me how brave I am even though I don’t see it, what else can you do sit and wallow, I’m not a wallower plus I don’t get a chance to do that!
However Today I’m actually having a rest on my own and its lovely. My youngest started nursery today and told me to go which was brill!
So I’ve been catching up on my tv and today is the first day I’ve spent on my own in my new house and I love it.
Hope you have a good one!
Love fran xx
Xx
Hi all,
If it’s any help I asked my BC nurse to give me a copy of my Histopathology Report which gave me a summary of the tissues sent for testing; grade and size of the tumour/lumps etc tested, type of cancer (IDC, DCIS ect), margin clearances and some other stuff I can’t remember. I needed some help deciphering it (BC nurse and BCC website) but it did help me understand what little nasties I had but not how it would be treated. hugs…Zax
PS I also thought it was a good idea to keep a copy just in case. My Mum had a recurrence but the original hospital couldnt find herpaperwork.
Yes that’s good advice Zax, I will ask for a copy thanks.
Re stating size of tumour for staging.
Does anyone know if DCIS around the cancer is included when deciding on size of lump. I had 2cm lump but 1cm additional DCIS surrounding it.
does this make my cancer 2cm or 3cm.
Sorry , -or 4 cm ?
Winnie dcis is stage 0 so isn’t included in the staging of invasive cancers… Eg. Mine was 1.9cm making it stage 1 but the whole tumour including dcis was 2.9cm still stage 1.
Yours would still be 2cm… 2cm is still usually considered stage 1 and over 2cm would be stage 2 so long as no nodes are involved.
Fran glad that was useful.
Lulu x
Thank you Lulu - i have asked the Oncologist, but I`ve never had a straight answer !
Norma x