When a mammogram of the involved breast shows no more suspicious findings after the lumpectomy When the size of the DCIS tumor is small enough so that after its removal, there is enough breast tissue left behind to provide the patient with a cosmetically acceptable breast. The patient keeps her breast. The lumpectomy is a very simple surgery, which can usually be done as an outpatient under local anesthetic, sparing the patient a bigger surgery. The addition of radiation therapy to treat the remaining breast tissue does decrease the risk of recurrence of either DCIS or invasive cancer. Slightly larger DCIS tumors than can be safely treated with lumpectomy alone can be effectively treated with breast sparing by adding radiation.
Radiation therapy is time consuming.
The treatments are daily for 5-6 weeks. Half of these women who have a recurrence will have invasive cancer when the cancer returns. Women with comedocarcinomas may have an even higher chance of local recurrence. Patients must be carefully selected so that the ultimate tumor control chances and cosmetic results will be good. This is particularly not adequate treatment for extensive comedocarcinoma.