Radiation Helpful in Women With Ductal Carcinoma in Situ

This looks to contradict other information we have on the website. We'll keep watching here. For a bay area second opinion on DCIS, go to If you have DCIS , talk to Dr. Michael Lagios:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Sept 26 - Radiation therapy has meaningful benefits for older women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), even those at low risk, according to findings in the September 20th Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Benjamin D. Smith of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut and colleagues identified 3,409 women aged at least 66 years with DCIS treated with lumpectomy. The team sought to determine whether additional treatment with radiation was associated with a clinically significant benefit.

Data analysis showed that women who received radiation therapy experienced a 68% lower relative risk for each component of the combined outcome -- recurrence of ipsilateral in situ or invasive breast cancer and/or a subsequent mastectomy.

For women at high risk of a subsequent breast event, the 5-year risk was 13.6% without radiation versus 3.8% with radiation. For low-risk women, the 5-year risk was 8.2% without radiation versus 1.0% with radiation.

The relative benefit of radiation therapy persisted regardless of the presence or absence of accepted risk factors such as being younger at diagnosis, large tumor size, high tumor grade, and aggressive tumor histology.

The researchers point out that "the absolute benefit associated with radiation therapy in DCIS was "considerable and compared favorably with that of other accepted clinical interventions."

Dr. Smith noted in comments to Reuters Health, that "these results suggest that radiation therapy effectively prevents recurrence and mastectomy for older women with DCIS and should be considered a reasonable component of therapy."

J Natl Cancer Inst 2006;98:1302-1310.

Reuters Health Information 2006. © 2006 Reuters Ltd.
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