Duktalkarcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a very early form of breast cancer, which is about 1 out of 5 cases of breast cancer.
While every cancer diagnosis is scary, DCIS is not invasive and very treatable. With adequate treatment and follow-up, the prospects are excellent. And the five -year survival rate for people who were diagnosed with DCIS is 98%.
What is DCIS?
DCIS is the earliest stage of breast cancer, sometimes referred to as breast cancer in stage 0.
The name Duktales carcinoma in situ is a bit confusing. The following means:
- Duktal: The cancer is in the cells that line the milk channels. It could be in one or both breasts.
- Carcinoma: These ductal cells become abnormal (cancer -like).
- In situ: The cancer remains “on site” where it started. It could spread to more ductal cells, but it does not spread to other areas.
DCIS is not invasive, which means that it has not spread from the place where it started, but it still has to be treated. Although DCIS itself has a big forecast, research shows that people who were diagnosed with DCIs have a higher risk of later developing invasive cancer. 20 to 50% of DCIS cases can be a forerunner of a higher breast cancer stage.
Health service providers cannot say which cases will progress. The safest approach is to treat all cases of DCIs quickly. Treatment of DCIS leads intensively to better results and lowers the risk of invasive cancer in the street.
Symptoms and diagnosis of DCIS
DCIs usually do not cause noticeable symptoms. Some people could notice a buddy in their chest, skin irritation or itching, pain or unloading from the nipple. But that’s not common. Most of the time, DCIS is caught by a mammogram – these regular demonstrations are important!
If you have DCIS, the mammogram can show microcalcification clusters. These clusters are calcium deposits in the chest. You could be there for many reasons. In fact, they are quite common in women over 50. However, certain patterns of micro drawings can indicate an early cancer stage. If these are discovered in your mammogram, you need more imaging.
If you have signs of DCIS, your health service provider (HCP) can request one or more of the following signs for the following request:
- Diagnostic mammography: offers more detailed X-ray images of the breast than a screening mammogram, often from different angles or positions.
- Ultrasound: Used sound waves to get pictures of the breast tissue. Sometimes an ultrasound is used to lead a biopsy.
- Breast -MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging is more sensitive than a mammogram or an ultrasound.
After imaging, the next step is a biopsy: a small piece of tissue is removed from the chest and then analyzed by a pathologist. The analysis determines the type of DCIS and which course of treatment.
Different types of DCIS
DCIS is categorized by something called nuclear degree. This scale “notes” or compares what the cancer cells look like compared to normal breast cells. The cells can be low, intermediary or high degree. A higher degree means that the cancer cells are more abnormal and quickly growing.
It is also important to determine the hormonal composition of the cancer cells. This helps doctors to choose the best treatment approach. Some cancer cells have hormone receptors for estrogen or progesterone or both. Having these receptors is cheap. This means that cancer grows more slowly and depends on hormones to survive. Most cases of DCIS are positive hormone receptor.
How is DCIS treated?
The treatment of DCIS is usually uncomplicated: operation, often followed by radiation therapy. The radiation ensures that all cancer cells are removed. In some cases, hormone therapy can be recommended. Chemotherapy is not used to treat DCIs.
operation
Lumpectomy is also known as partial mastectomy or breast saving. The surgeon removes tissue from the chest. The fabric includes the cancer cells and some healthy tissue in the area. The chest itself is not removed.
A mastectomy is an operation that removes the entire tissue or the entire breast. The patients could operate for a bridal reconstruction after a mastectomy.
Which surgery is required depends on the DCIS spread. If the cancer is in a small, contained area, a lumpectomy is usually possible. If the cancer is spreading through the duktal cells or is scattered, a mastectomy is required.
radiotherapy
Radiation therapy uses energy -rich rays, usually X -rays to kill cancer cells that were not removed during the operation. It is associated with a lower risk of recurrence.
Hormone therapy
If the cancer cells have hormone receptors, your health service provider can recommend hormone therapy to prevent a recurrence. If you have a mastectomy, hormone therapy is usually not necessary.
Does DCIs repeat himself?
While DCIS can come back, his repetition rate is low. For people with a lumpectomy, followed by radiation therapy, it is less than 15%.
The DCIS class also affects the repetition rate. A lower degree corresponds to a lower risk of recurrence. However, the risk of recurring is higher for black women than for Asian, Hispanic or White Women. This can be due to the fact that white women benefit from more follow-up-up image monitoring. These systemic racial/ethnic differences have fatal consequences: The rate of breast cancer mortality according to DCIS is higher for black women.
Read: Why do women with color have the worst breast cancer results? >>
Regular mammograms help to catch DCIs so that they can be treated quickly. After the treatment of DCIs is complete, regular demonstrations help with abnormalities. With a good episode you have everything on your side to stay healthy after a DCIS diagnosis.
This educational resource was created with the support of Merck.
From their site articles
Related articles related to the web