It is widely believed that young women, 40-years old and younger, with a common form of early breast cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) that arises in and is confined to the mammary ducts, have a worse prognosis than older women as they can have a recurrence of breast cancer at some point throughout their lives.
But a new study by Dr. Aruna Turaka of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia has found this is not the case as with aggressive treatment, even very young women with DCIS do very well with breast-conserving surgery.
For this study, physicians examined the records of 440 patients with DCIS treated from 1978 to 2007 at Fox Chase. Of these, 24 patients were 40 years old or younger. Researchers looked over the records of 440 patients who were diagnosed with the early-stage breast cancer.
All women received whole-breast radiotherapy and 95 percent also received a radiation boost. Data analyzed included method of presentation, patient and DCIS characteristics, and surgical and adjuvant treatment, Science Daily reports.
When the patient's records were looked at for 15 years after, the overall recurrence after 15 years was 10 percent for the women 40 and younger, compared to 7 percent for the women 41-54, and 11 percent for those 55-69.
This shows there is no significant increase when it comes to young women and breast cancer recurrence.
Ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, is generally treated with breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) and radiation. It is the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer, with about 62,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.
The results of the study were presented today at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Boston.
