Ten-year follow-up of breast carcinoma in situ in Connecticut
B. A. Ward, C. F. McKhann and T. S. Ravikumar
Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn 06510.
Statistics from the Connecticut Tumor Registry from 1979 to 1988 were
examined, and individual medical records from 1979 to 1983 were also
reviewed. Three hundred nineteen medical records were available for review,
documenting 220 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ and 102 cases of lobular
carcinoma in situ. In 1979, there were 33 new cases of ductal carcinoma in
situ reported to the Connecticut Tumor Registry, representing 1.8% of all
breast cancers. There has been a yearly increase in ductal carcinoma in
situ, with 200 new cases, or 7.4% of all breast cancers, reported in 1988.
Forty-eight (22%) of 217 patients with ductal carcinoma in situ had
bilateral breast involvement with ductal carcinoma in situ or an invasive
breast cancer. Ten (83%) of 12 mastectomy specimens from patients with
ductal carcinoma in situ who presented with nipple discharge demonstrated
residual tumor, suggesting a more diffuse involvement. Two of the three
reported recurrences involved nipple discharge. Thirty-seven (16.8%) of the
220 patients with ductal carcinoma in situ and six (5.9%) of the 102
patients with lobular carcinoma in situ were diagnosed as having another
unrelated cancer. Ongoing clinical trials will direct optimum therapy for
patients increasingly diagnosed as having ductal carcinoma in situ.
