Why is the diagnosis of DCIS significant in breast imaging?
The diagnosis of DCIS is the non- obligatory precursor of IDC. These are the patients we did not know about in the bad old days of pre- mammogram breast cancer. Depending on how old you are, you may know or not know breast surgeons used to get patients referred with a "lump"... nowadays the breast surgeon gets the patient referred with a diagnosis. The mortality of breast cancer decreases in screening clients above 50 by about 30%. In large series of screening studies about 30% of the cancers we find are DCIS. The decline in deaths from breast cancer are a result of the use of mammography and improved therapy. Before 1984 the mortality from breast cancer in the USA was stable form the 2nd World War. Since 1984 it has declined by 30%.
Small grouping heterogeneous calcification high up in the right breast (arrow).