But it takes days to do the pathology on the tumor and see what stage or type it is and how advanced.

NPR: Justice Ginsburg Has Cancer Surgery

For example, a stage IIIA tumor is larger than 5 cm (2 inches) and has spread to one to three lymph nodes under the arm.

CNN: Breast cancer staging

In stage IIIB breast cancer, a tumor of any size has spread to tissues near the breast the skin and chest muscles and may have spread to lymph nodes within the breast or under the arm.

CNN: Breast cancer staging

Onyx has data showing that Sorafenib slows tumor growth, compared with a placebo, but in late-stage trials only 2% of patients had their tumors shrink enough to be counted in the response rate.

FORBES: Magazine Article

He analyzed tumor samples from 415 people who had been operated on for early-stage colon cancer over the last two decades.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The authors, from the University of California, San Francisco, noted that even when DCIS becomes an invasive cancer, it's treatable when found at an early stage: The odds that a 60-year old woman with a 7 millimeter breast tumor, would die from it in the next 10 years are less than 3%, half the risk she faces of dying from another cause during that time.

WSJ: Can Breast Cancer Be Overtreated?