OnCo
termsTerm

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

aka DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ, ductal in situ

Breast cancer cells confined inside the milk ducts, found mostly by mammography as calcifications. It is not life-threatening in itself, but around a third would progress to invasive cancer if left.

DCIS makes up 20-25% of screen-detected breast cancers. Standard treatment is lumpectomy with radiotherapy (or mastectomy for extensive disease) plus tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor if ER-positive; low-dose tamoxifen (5 mg, TAM-01) halves recurrence with fewer side effects. Because many DCIS lesions are indolent, active surveillance trials (COMET, LORIS, LORD) tested omitting surgery for low-risk disease, and COMET found no excess invasive cancer at 2 years. It is a leading example of the overdiagnosis debate in screening.

Category
Pathology & biomarkers

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