Breast cancer in situ: a retrospective review of 23 cases with a minimum of 10-year followup.

Twenty-three cases of breast carcinoma in situ (12 with intraductal carcinoma and 11 with lobular carcinoma in situ) seen at Charleston Area Medical Center between 1957 and 1977 were reviewed. The mean age diagnosis was 50 years (age range: 30-86 years). An asymptomatic breast mass was the initial symptom in 19 patients (82 per cent). Mammography, performed in seven patients, was abnormal in five. A simple or modified radical mastectomy was performed in 20 women and wedge resection in three. Twenty-two women underwent ipsilateral axillary nodal dissection, and all but one had histologically-negative nodes. Only one patient in this series died with metastatic breast cancer. Six other patients died from non-malignant causes. Sixteen patients are still alive with no evidence of disease from 11.5 to 26.5 years after the initial diagnosis. The role of simple excision with or without radiotherapy in breast carcinoma in situ remains to be determined.