Breast Cancer - Outlook by stage

The outlook for breast cancer varies according to whether the cancer is diagnosed early or when it is more advanced. The earlier a breast cancer is diagnosed, the smaller it is likely to be and the lower the chance that it has spread. The outlook will also depend on various other factors, including the grade of the cancer and whether the cells have receptors for particular hormones or biological therapies. 

Survival statistics are available for each stage of breast cancer in one area of England. These figures are for women diagnosed in the early 1990's and the outlook is better for women diagnosed now due to improvements in screening and treatment. The statistics are likely to be similar in the rest of the UK. 

For stage 1 breast cancers more than 90% of women lived for more than 5 years and more than 85% of women lived for more than 10 years. 

For stage 2 breast cancers more than 70% of women lived for more than 5 years and more than 60% of women lived for more than 10 years. 

Around 50% of women with stage 3 tumours lived for more than 5 years and 40% lived for more than 10 years. 

In about 1 in 20 women (5%), the cancer has already spread to another part of their body when they are first diagnosed. Sadly, the outlook once a cancer has spread to another body organ is not so good. It is not curable at this point, but may be controlled with treatment for some years. Women with stage 4 tumours have a 5 year survival rate of around 13%. About 1 in 10 women (10%) will live for more than 10 years.

How reliable these statistics are

No statistics can tell you what will happen to you. Your cancer is unique. The same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people.

The statistics available are not detailed enough to tell you about the different treatments people may have had. And they don't tell us how that treatment worked for them. Many individual factors will affect your treatment and prognosis. For breast cancer, there are more and more tests that specialists take into account both to decide your treatment and to estimate how well it will work.