Women aged 50 years or older who have been treated for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are likely to live longer than women in the general population, according to a presentation at the European Cancer Congress (January 27-30; Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
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DCIS is a cancer precursor with abnormal cells that have not spread into surrounding breast tissue. It is typically treated with surgery alone to remove the breast or surgery followed by radiation therapy in order to prevent it from progressing into an invasive breast cancer. The number of women being diagnosed with DCIS is increasing due to breast screening programs being able to detect DCIS.
Researchers led by Jelle Wesseling, MD, PhD, breast pathologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, studied women diagnosed with DCIS over time to compare their mortality rates to the expected mortality of the general population. Approximately 10,000 women were sampled between 1989 and 2004 and tracked over an average of 10 years after their treatment.
Results of the study showed that women aged 50 years or older who had been treated for the condition exhibited a 10% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to the general population. In particular, they had a lower risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems, as well as other cancers. Thus, researchers concluded that a diagnosis of DCIS does not raise the risk of dying, contrary to the understanding many women have of the condition.
The study also showed that after 10 years, the risk of breast cancer-specific mortality was higher for patients diagnosed with DCIS compared with the general population. However, mortality rates are decreasing in women diagnosed with DCIS more recently.
An international collaboration is underway with researchers in the UK and the US to broaden the scope of DCIS research and to gain an understanding as to why some cases of DCIS progress into invasive cancer and others do not.
“We have to recognize that in one fifth of the patients who die, the cause is breast cancer, which is likely to result from progression of the DCIS they were diagnosed with. Therefore, we are eagerly waiting for the results of further research to identify the factors - including age, as clearly shown in this study - that contribute to the risk for recurrence and progression from DCIS for each individual patient,” said Philip Poortmans, President-elect of ECCO and head of the Radiation Oncology Department at Radboud university medical center (Nijmegen, The Netherlands).
