Tuesday 18 October 2016

Finding the balance between over- and under-treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

Finding the balance between over- and under-treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

Groen EJ et al

The Breast: Article in Press

With the widespread adoption of population-based breast cancer screening, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has come to represent 20–25% of all breast neoplastic lesions diagnosed. Current treatment aims at preventing invasive breast cancer, but the majority of DCIS lesions will never progress to invasive disease. Still, DCIS is treated by surgical excision, followed by radiotherapy as part of breast conserving treatment, and/or endocrine therapy. This implies over-treatment of the majority of DCIS, as less than 1% of DCIS patients will go on to develop invasive breast cancer annually.