DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) is discovered in several thousand women per year. These are abnormal cells in the milk ducts in the breast. Sometimes this can develop into breast cancer, often not. But how do doctors know when that is the case?
A pathologist from the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam has received 18 million euros to conduct research into this subject. It is currently impossible to distinguish in which women DCIS will develop into breast cancer and in whom not. Women therefore sometimes undergo unnecessary and stressful treatments. Hopefully, doctors will know more about it at the end of the study, so that unnecessary treatments can be avoided.
