Risk for Invasive Breast Cancer and Mortality After DCIS

Recommendations for mammography intervals following a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) vary by country. In the U.S., mammography is recommended annually, so long as nothing of concern is identified that would warrant a shorter interval. In the U.K., the National Health Service (NHS) recommends annual mammograms for the first 5 years and then, for those aged 50–70, every 3 years until age 70. A question with longer intervals is whether invasive cancers may go undetected between mammograms and affect survival.

Investigators evaluated risk for invasive cancer in >27,000 women in England diagnosed with DCIS outside the NHS screening program from 1990 to 2018. Of these, 3651 women eventually were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer;…