It is important to check for breast cancer as how long one can live depends on the stage at which breast cancer is diagnosed. Women who are diagnosed early with breast cancer have a much better chance. Even for women whose breast cancer has not metastasized, their fighting chance to live for another 5 years is about 86%.

Breast cancer, like most other forms, progresses in stages. A standard classification of letters and numbers is used to describe the stages - T, N and M and 0-IV. The alphabet T denotes the size of the tumor while alphabet N denotes that it has spread to the lymph nodes and the alphabet M means distant metastasis. When a primary tumor spreads to another area/s and forms more tumors, it has metastasized.

A tumor is noted as TX when it defies assessment. Should there be no sign of cancer, the term T0 is used. If one of the following forms is suspected - DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), LCIS (lobular carcinoma in situ) or Paget's disease (where the nipple and/or areola is cancerous) - Tis is used.

Stage 0 indicates that the cancer is in its earliest stage. Stage 1 means that the tumors are less than 2cm long and the cancerous cells have not spread. A tumor that is 2-5cm in diameter is classified as Stage II, and a tumor larger than 5cm is considered Stage III. Should a tumor adhere to the wall of the chest and the cancer cells spread to the lymph nodes, it is considered to be in Stage 4.

Today, due to medical advances, many breast cancers are diagnosed and treated during the early stages.

When treatment is given to patients who are at Stage 0 or 1, the survival rates are almost 100%. And yes, men can develop breast cancer, though at a far lower rate of 1/133 when compared to women. For those with cancer in Stage II, the survival rate is at 81% to 92%. At Stage III the rate lowers to 67%, and then drops substantially to 20% at Stage IV.

Although it is a very serious illness, breast cancer is seldom life threatening. Women who have advanced stages of cancer have been known to live for more than seven years. As technology and medicine advance, survival rates increase. Even later stage cancer survival rates are rising as medical and treatment methods improve.

A fairly new method of diagnosing cancer is the QM-MSP (quantitative multiplex methylation-specific PCR) method. It was invented in 2001 and it involves tests done on fluids taken from the breast area. In this test, the chemical analysis can detect minute cancerous lumps that only contain 50 cells and has an 86% reliability. When discovered early, breast cancer treatments are usually very effective and there are new means to diagnose breast cancer early.

Treatments are getting more advanced as there are targeted radiation, hormone therapy and more specific drugs available.

Breast cancer is no longer the death sentence it used to be. Although the disease is still a matter of serious concern, the chances of survival are high and treatments are now less invasive.