Approaches to Breast-Cancer Staging

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Abstract
Each year more than 180,000 women in the United States receive a diagnosis of breast cancer, and over 40,000 of them ultimately die of their disease. Larger primary tumors and tumor cells in axillary nodes are strong predictors of metastatic disease and death. In an effort to prevent these outcomes, women with tumor cells in axillary nodes routinely receive chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or both, and radiation after surgery. Unfortunately, the predictive value of axillary-node status is limited. As many as 40 percent of women with positive axillary nodes survive 10 years, and metastatic disease develops within 10 years after diagnosis . . .