The word metastasis was used by the ancient Greeks to mean "removal from one place to another." Metastasis is the process by which cancer spreads from the place at which it first arose as a primary tumour to distant locations in the body. And thus, the cancer results from the spread of the primary tumour. The tumours produced by metastasis sometimes are called secondary tumours. Metastasis depends on the motility and invasiveness of the cancer. Cells that metastasize are basically of the same kind as those in the original tumour. If a cancer arises in the uterus and metastasizes to the breast, the cancer cells in the breast are the uterus cancer cells. These cells have now acquired increased motility and ability to invade another organ. Metastasis is responsible for 90% of the deaths caused by cancer.

October is also known as Breast Cancer Month. 'Pink for October' is an initiative started in August 2006, in which sites all over the world change their templates to include the color pink, in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. The 4th Monday of the month is considered as Pink Ribbon day. Pink is the colour to raise awareness on breast cancer. Pink Ribbon Day aims to raise awareness about breast cancer, as well as raise funds towards research, education and patient support programs.

The prognosis of the cancer depends on location, tumour size, staging, grading, age of the patient and recurrence of the cancer.

What Are The Stages of Cancer?
Staging of cancer is the most important as it takes into consideration size, local involvement, lymph node status and whether metastatic disease is present. The higher the stage at the time of diagnosis, the worse will be the prognosis. The stage is raised by and the aggressiveness of the cancer cells and the invasiveness of disease to lymph nodes, chest wall, skin or beyond. Size is not a factor in staging unless the cancer is invasive. For instance, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) throughout the entire breast is stage zero. There are total eight stages of breast cancer as mentioned below:

• Stage 0: There is no evidence of cancer cell at this stage. It is a non invasive type.
• Stage I: Invasive cancer, the tumour measure 2cm but no lymph nodes are involved.
• Stage IIA: The tumour measure 2 cm and has spread to axillary lymph node.
• Stage IIB: The tumour is larger then 2 cm but not more than 5cm and has spread to axillary lymph nodes or the tumour is larger than 5 cm but not spread to the axillary lymph nodes.
• Stage IIIA: The tumour is 5 cm or larger and has spread to the axillary lymph nodes that are clumped together or is sticking to other structures.
• Stage IIIB: The tumour may be of any size and has spread to the chest wall or skin of the breast with spread to the axillary lymph nodes that are clumped together or stick to other structures.
• Stage IIIC: If there is a tumour then it may be of any size, and has spread to the chest wall or the skin of the breast. The cancer has spread above or below the collar bone.
• Stage IV: The cancer has spread to other organ of the body like liver, lungs, bone or brain.

The most commonly used staging system by the doctors to determine how far a cancer has spread is the TNM staging system, where

• T stands for tumour size
• N stands for node indicating absence or presence of lymph node involvement
• M stands for metastasis

What Does Grade Mean In A Cancer Report?

Grading is based on the characteristic of the cultured cells procured via biopsy. If the cancer cells appearance is closer to normal breast cell appearance, then the slower will be the growth and the better will be the prognosis. But if the cells are not well differentiated, they will appear immature and will divide more rapidly. Doctors usually grade cancer as low grade or high grade. Low-grade cancer cells look similar to normal cells whereas high-grade cancer cells look very different from the normal breast cells. Well differentiated cells are given a grade of 1, moderate are grade 2, while poor or undifferentiated are given a higher grade of 3 or 4 depending upon the scale used.

Depending on the stage and grade of the cancer, your doctor will decide upon the line of treatment best suited for you.