How serious is stage 0 breast cancer?
In Stage 0 breast cancer, the atypical cells have not spread outside of the ducts or lobules into the surrounding breast tissue. Ductal Carcinoma In Situ is very early cancer that is highly treatable, but if it's left untreated or undetected, it can spread into the surrounding breast tissue.
According to the American Cancer Society, the 5-year relative survival rate for women with stage 0 breast cancer is close to 100%. "Ductal carcinoma in situ" (DCIS) is the most common type of non-invasive Stage 0 breast cancer.
More than 98 percent of patients who are diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer survive at least five years after their original diagnosis. While a few patients will experience recurrences, the survival rates are still encouraging.
Stage 0 breast cancer treatment
Because it's not possible to predict whether a stage 0 breast cancer will invade the breast tissue around it, most people undergo treatment, which may include surgery, radiation therapy and hormone therapies such as tamoxifen.
Surgery is the main treatment for DCIS. Most women are offered breast-conserving surgery. If there are several areas of DCIS in the breast, doctors may do a mastectomy to make sure that all of the cancer is removed.
Stage 0 breast cancer, especially DCIS, usually doesn't have any symptoms. Approximately 80% of these cancers are found by routine screening with a mammogram. If symptoms are present, they may include a breast lump or abnormal nipple discharge.
The stage of breast cancer provides information about how invasive and aggressive it is. It also shows whether cancer has spread or is likely to spread to other areas of the body. Stage 0 breast cancer is noninvasive, meaning it has not spread beyond where it started to other parts of the breast or other organs.
Stage 0 breast cancer can be very slow growing and may never progress to invasive cancer. It can be successfully treated.
A condition in which abnormal cells that look like cancer cells under a microscope are found only in the place where they first formed and haven't spread to nearby tissue. At some point, these cells may become cancerous and spread into nearby normal tissue.
Generally, patients diagnosed with DCIS have an excellent long-term breast-cancer-specific survival of around 98% after 10 years of follow-up24–27 and a normal life expectancy.
Should I have a mastectomy for DCIS?
In most cases, a woman with DCIS can choose between breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and simple mastectomy. But sometimes, if DCIS is throughout the breast, a mastectomy might be a better option. There are clinical studies being done to see if observation instead of surgery might be an option for some women.
Most patients diagnosed with breast cancer will not experience a recurrence, but if it does return, there is reason for hope: In most cases, a breast cancer recurrence can be managed.
Stage 0: Stage zero (0) describes disease that is only in the ducts of the breast tissue and has not spread to the surrounding tissue of the breast. It is also called non-invasive or in situ cancer (Tis, N0, M0). Stage IA: The tumor is small, invasive, and has not spread to the lymph nodes (T1, N0, M0).
Scientists don't know what causes abnormal cell growth in DCIS, but several factors may increase your risk. One of the most significant is age. If you're a woman or AFAB, your chances of getting DCIS increase as you age, especially past age 30.
There is also evidence from epidemiological studies that there is an inherited predisposition to DCIS. Women with DCIS have been shown to be 2.4 times (95 % CI 0.8, 7.2) more likely to have an affected mother and sister with breast cancer than controls [13].
Ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS
(Ducts are the tiny tubes that carry milk to the nipple). The cancer cells have not spread through the walls of the ducts into the nearby breast tissue. Nearly all women with DCIS can be cured.
The poorest prognosis is for metastatic breast cancer (also known as stage IV or advanced breast cancer). This is when the cancer has spread beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body.
What is triple-negative breast cancer? Triple-negative breast cancer is that which tests negative for three receptors: estrogen, progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). It is also the least common form of breast cancer and the hardest to treat.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS; also known as intraductal carcinoma) is a non-invasive or pre-invasive breast cancer.
Radiation is typically used after lumpectomy. But it might not be necessary if you have only a small area of DCIS that is considered low grade and was completely removed during surgery.
How long does it take for DCIS to become invasive?
It assumes that all breast carcinomas begin as DCIS and take 9 years to go from a single cell to an invasive lesion for the slowest growing lesions, 6 years for intermediate growing DCIS lesions, and 3 years for fast-growing DCIS lesions.
If DCIS is left untreated, it can go on to become an invasive cancer, so it is often called a pre-cancer.
Aggressive, hard-to-treat breast cancers, such as inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), are the types most likely to recur.
Efficacy — Mastectomy is curative for over 98 percent of patients with DCIS [15-19]. Disease recurrence is rare after mastectomy (1 to 2 percent) [3,20-22].
Can someone live for 20 years after breast cancer? Many people with localized or regional breast cancer survive for 20 years or longer after receiving a diagnosis and treatment. It is rare for someone with distant breast cancer to live for 20 years.