Choosing Your Treatment
While DCIS itself is not life threatening, over time some cases do progress to invasive cancer, which can spread beyond the breast and throughout the body. Treatment of DCIS has two main goals: preventing invasive breast cancer and preventing DCIS from coming back.
The treatment choices are:
- Lumpectomy (surgery to remove only the DCIS and a margin of healthy tissue), also called breast-conserving surgery.
- Lumpectomy and radiation.
- Tamoxifen (hormone treatment for women with hormone-receptor - positive breast cancer), generally combined with lumpectomy and radiation.
- Mastectomy (surgery to remove the breast).
In general, the more treatment, the greater reduction in both the risk of developing invasive cancer and of having DCIS come back. However, a woman needs to weigh the possible downside of more surgery or other treatments against this advantage. The videotape and booklet are designed to help a woman decide which treatment is right for her.
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