How patients battling early breast cancer live longer than healthy women

WOMEN over 50 who have been treated for a precursor of breast cancer live longer than women who have not had the disease, according to research.

The condition, called DCIS – ductal carcinoma in situ – can progress into full-blown breast cancer and is usually treated with surgery, or surgery and radiotherapy.

The Netherlands Cancer Institute found women diagnosed during screening and then treated for DCIS were more likely to be alive ten years later than other women.

It is possible that after the disease is detected, these patients take greater care of themselves. Researchers say their results should provide reassurance to women who are diagnosed with the condition.

The team studied data on almost 10,000 Dutch women who were found to have DCIS between 1989 and 2004. They tracked the patients over an average of ten years and compared their death rates with expected mortality in the general population.

They found over-50s treated for the condition had a 10 per cent lower risk of dying from any cause over the period compared with the general population.

Researcher Dr Lotte Elshof told the European Cancer Congress (Ecco): ‘This study should provide reassurance that a diagnosis of DCIS does not raise the risk of dying.’

The study shows DCIS patients had a 2.5 per cent risk of dying of breast cancer after ten years. At 15 years, the risk was 4 per cent. These rates are higher than in the general population.

But Ecco’s Professor Philip Poortmans said: ‘The increased risk of dying from breast cancer is completely offset by a lower risk of dying from other causes compared to women in the general population.’