ABSTRACT
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is perhaps the single most contentious topic related to breast cancer in the modern era. In the 1970s, pure DCIS was a rare entity, accounting for 2% of breast cancers. The ‘industry' surrounding DCIS is a direct product of breast screening. DCIS is defined as the proliferation of malignant epithelial cells, bounded by a basement membrane, and therefore there is no invasion of the surrounding stromal tissue. ‘Lump' DCIS is diagnosed by triple assessment. Asymptomatic DCIS is typically found in women attending for screening mammograms, where the characteristic abnormality is the finding of clustered microcalcifications. MRI has been shown to be more successful than mammography in delineating the full extent of DCIS, and in some cases may reveal other significant areas of interest in either breast.
