Several factors may make a patient more susceptible to recurrence, including the following:
The size of the tumor. In general, the larger the tumor, the greater the chance of recurrence.
Whether or not the lymph nodes were involved. Women who had lymph node involvement are more likely to have a recurrence.
Whether or not the tumor contained certain oncogenes, genes that promote cancerous changes in the body's cells. There are several oncogenes that increase the likelihood of cancer recurrence.
The higher the tumor's histological grade, the greater the chance of recurrence. A tumor's histological grade refers to the appearance of the cancer cells. The histological grading scale runs 1 to 4. Grade 4 tumors contain very abnormal and rapidly growing cancer cells.
The higher the tumor's nuclear grade, the greater the chance of recurrence. Nuclear grade, also called proliferative capacity, is the rate at which cancer cells in the tumor divide to form more cancer cells.
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