Characteristics associated with upgrading to invasiveness after surgery of a DCIS diagnosed using percutaneous biopsy

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-invasive malignant breast lesion. Patients diagnosed with a DCIS on percutaneous biopsy usually undergo resection, and the final pathology may reveal that the lesion was in fact invasive (upgrading at surgery), this leading to treatment strategy change during its course. The aim of the present study was to identify factors associated with DCIS-upgrading to invasive carcinoma at surgery, and to identify a subgroup of patients more likely to have an invasive cancer.

A retrospective study was performed in patients diagnosed with DCIS on percutaneous biopsy between April 1997 and December 2010. Based on available data and on previous studies, 21 clinical, radiological and pathological variables were evaluated using univariate analyses. Variables identified in univariate analyses, when p≤0.10, were included in a multivariate model.

Among 608 DCIS lesions, 177 (29.1%) were invasive carcinomas after surgery. Using univariate analyses, core needle biopsy (odds ratio (OR)=1.8), physical symptoms (OR=2.9), palpable masses (OR=4.1), number of specimen obtained (1-9 cores, OR=2.2) and a measurable mammographic lesion (OR=1.7) were significantly associated with upgrading at surgery. However, using multivariate analysis, no factor was significantly associated.

No characteristic was identified to be independently associated with DCIS upgrading at surgery, and no sub-group of patients could be identified in whom the appropriate surgery could have been performed first.