DCIS patients who get invasive breast cancer

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Women with ductal carcinoma in situ�DCIS�who later develop invasive breast cancer in the same breast are at higher risk of dying from breast cancer than those who do not develop invasive disease, as per a research studypublished online March 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Retrospective studies of women with DCIS have compared breast conserving surgery (lumpectomy) to mastectomy and observed that survival rates are similar. However, women who have lumpectomy alone, without further therapy, are at higher risk of developing invasive breast cancer in the same breast. Whether women who develop invasive breast tumors after DCIS are also at higher risk of dying of breast cancer has not been clear.

To explore this question as well as the long-term effects of therapys aimed at avoiding invasive recurrence after lumpectomy, Irene Wapnir, M.D., of Stanford University School of Medicine, and James Dignam, PhD of University of Chicago looked at the long-term outcomes of patients with localized DCIS who took part in two large randomized trials, both carried out by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP). The B-17 trial compared lumpectomy alone to lumpectomy plus radiation treatment in women with DCIS. The B-24 trial compared lumpectomy plus radiation in combination with either tamoxifen or placebo.

Wapnir and his colleagues analyzed data on outcomes in both trials after 15 years, including overall and breast cancer-specific survival and survival after development of invasive breast cancer in the same, or ipsilateral, breast.

They observed that the development of invasive ipsilateral breast cancer was linked to death rates that were statistically significantly higher than those in women who did not develop an invasive ipsilateral breast cancer. Recurrence of DCIS was not linked to higher mortality. Radiation therapy after lumpectomy reduced the risk of ipsilateral invasive breast cancer in comparison to lumpectomy alone, and therapy with radiation and tamoxifen reduced the risk in comparison to radiation only. The reductions in risk were statistically significant.

Among all patients in the trials, the 15-year cumulative occurence rate of death from breast cancer was 4.7% or less for all therapy groups. Some of these events could be attributed to new invasive contralateral breast cancers.

The authors conclude that, regardless of therapy, women with DCIS have an excellent overall prognosis "despite persistent risks of breast cancer in the same or contralateral breast." They note that three other NSABP trials now in progress will provide more information on other therapy options following lumpectomy.


Posted by: Janet    Source