To view, download, or print a free copy of our patient booklet, here is a PDF of
DCIS: What You Need to Know.
The Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund has developed a free, easy-to-read 32-page color booklet for women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). DCIS is also known as Stage zero breast cancer. It explains DCIS and commonly used medical terms in plain language and helps women make informed decisions about their treatment.
Experts estimate that at least half of all women diagnosed with DCIS would never develop breast cancer even if they never received any treatment for their DCIS. Since no one knows for sure which women with DCIS will develop breast cancer and which won’t, most women with DCIS choose to get some form of surgery, usually lumpectomy. This booklet focuses on helping women decide what kind of surgery to get and what other kinds of treatment they might want or need. Patients should keep in mind that if their physician tells them that they have a particularly low-risk type of DCIS, they may want to consider active surveillance or tamoxifen only, rather than surgery in addition to other treatments.
The current booklet was approved and funded by a grant from the D.C. Cancer Consortium through the Department of Health, Government of the District of Columbia, and a grant from the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation. To request copies of the free patient booklet, write info@stopcancerfund.org .
We are currently updating the booklet to include information about active surveillance.