In cancer staging, what does the T category describe?

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In cancer staging, the T category describes the size of the primary tumor and how far it has invaded nearby tissues. For breast cancer, this means the T category reflects how large the tumor is and whether it has spread to structures such as the skin or chest wall under the breast. Smaller tumors confined to the breast fall into lower T levels, while larger tumors or those that invade skin or chest wall are assigned higher T levels. This is different from the N category, which looks at regional lymph node involvement, and the M category, which indicates distant metastasis. Hormone receptor status is a biological characteristic used to guide treatment and is not part of the T, N, M staging itself.