Non-invasive or in situ cancers consist of lobular carcinoma in situ and ductal carcinoma in situ (intraductal carcinoma). These cancers are often small and may be discovered incidentally by mammography before a mass can be felt. They may also be in several locations in one or both breasts. In situ cancer can also be found in the presence of invasive cancer , in which case the cancer is staged and treated according to the invasive cancer.
Standard Treatment Both types are generally curable.
• For intraductal carcinoma, conventional therapy is a wide excision of the tumor . It is critical to remove an
additional area around the initial biopsy if the edges of the biopsy showed tumor cells . Axillary lymph nodes
were usually removed in the past, but several studies have shown that positive nodes are rare for this type of
cancer. Accordingly, axillary sampling is usually omitted.
Following surgical excision of the tumor, radiation therapy is usually given to the remaining breast tissue ,
since this significantly reduces the chances of additional cancer developing in the same breast. Another option
is to remove the entire breast tissue (total mastectomy), with or without axillary dissection especially in cases
