Information that helps determine your breast cancer stage

Your doctor determines your breast cancer stage by considering:

• The size of your tumor
• Whether cancer cells have spread to lymph nodes under your arm (axillary lymph nodes)
• Whether cancer cells have spread to other parts of your body
• How aggressive your cells appear when viewed under a microscope (tumor grade)
• Whether your cancer cells have receptors for the hormones estrogen and progesterone
• Whether your cancer cells have a gene mutation that causes them to make excess HER2 protein
• Results of gene expression profiling tests (Oncotype DX, MammaPrint, others)