Is palpable DCIS more aggressive than screen-detected DCIS?

BACKGROUND

Palpable ductal carcinoma in-situ (pDCIS) is a subset of DCIS presenting with a clinical mass. We hypothesized pDCIS would have more aggressive clinical and pathological features, and higher rates of recurrence and upgrade to invasive disease compared to screen-detected DCIS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We performed a retrospective analysis of female patients (age 28-76) with DCIS on core-needle biopsy. pDCIS patients had a physician documented palpable mass prior to initial biopsy. Descriptive statistics were performed to compare groups.

RESULTS

This study included 83 patients, 26 had pDCIS and 57 had screen-detected DCIS. Mean duration of follow-up was 49.4 months. pDCIS patients had significantly larger lesions ( = 0.03) which were more frequently biopsied via ultrasound ( = 0.002). In multivariate analysis, pDCIS was associated with ultrasound guided core needle biopsy, size of DCIS >2 cm, and comedo pattern ( = 0.001, = 0.007 and = 0.022, respectively). 7.7 % of pDCIS cases versus 3.5 % of screen-detected cases were upgraded to invasive cancer ( = 0.59). There was no difference in local recurrence ( = 0.55) between groups. Neither group experienced regional or distant recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

pDCIS was associated with some aggressive pathologic and clinical features and was more frequently diagnosed by ultrasound guided core-needle biopsy than screen-detected DCIS. However, there was no significant difference in rate of recurrence or upgrade to invasive disease between groups.

KEY MESSAGE

Although pDCIS was associated with some aggressive pathologic and clinical features, there was no significant difference in rate of recurrence or upgrade to invasive disease compared to screen-detected DCIS.