Here is a comprehensive article from the The consumer website of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network that can help you through the making the right treatment decisions for yourself.
Breast Cancer – Stage I, II, and III
Cancer of the breast is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in U.S. women. *
If you have been diagnosed with stage I, II, or III breast cancer, you probably have many questions and concerns about treatment. This treatment summary, based on the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™, will help you understand the best available treatments for stage I, II, or III breast cancer. Talk to your doctor about these options so that together you can decide on a treatment plan that is right for you.
Background
Stages I, II, and III breast cancer are known as invasive cancers. This means they have spread beyond the breast tissue where the cancer started and into surrounding healthy breast tissue. In some cases, the cancer may also have spread to lymph nodes in or near the breast. This summary covers ductal, lobular, metaplastic, adenoid cystic, medullary, tubular, and colloid breast cancers.
Diagnosis
A breast lump, an abnormal mammogram or an abnormal ultrasound test each may suggest breast cancer, but only a biopsy of breast tissue can confirm or rule out the disease.
Your biopsy sample provides the doctor with information about:
Where the breast the cancer began (e.g., the ducts, a network of tubes connecting the milk glands to the nipple, or the lobules, the milk glands themselves).
Whether the cancer is noninvasive (localized to the duct or lobe) or invasive (has spread beyond site of origin)
The grade of the tumor cells, i.e., how much the cancer cells resemble healthy cells under a microscope. Generally, Grade 1 breast cancer is most like normal breast tissue and grows slowly while Grade 3 does not look like normal breast tissue and grows more quickly.
Whether important breast cancer tumor markers, which provide information that can predict how the tumor will respond to therapy, are present on the tumor cells. (See Hormone Therapy and Targeted Therapy sections below.)
Staging
Staging describes the extent or severity of a cancer diagnosis. Women with stage I breast cancer have small tumors that have not spread to either the lymph nodes or other distant sites. Women with stage II disease generally have smaller tumors and either no or minimal lymph node involvement and no metastasis (spread of the disease to distant organs).
