Intraductal Carcinoma - Epidemiology

Epidemiology

Intraductal carcinoma can be easily detected with mammographies but is rarely palpable, so it can not generally be found during manual examination by patients or medical professionals. With the increasing use of screening mammography, noninvasive cancers are more frequently diagnosed and now constitute 15% to 20% of all breast cancers. By the time screening had become an important part in diagnosing early breast cancer, only in the United States there were 53,000 women diagnosed with this condition, in 2009. In the prescreening era, only 4,900 women were diagnosed with the same condition.

Because intraductal carcinoma is normally found early and it is treated or managed, it is difficult to say what occurs if left untreated. It appears that nearly 2% of the women who were diagnosed with this condition and treated between 1984 and 1989, died within 10 years.

The development of the condition varies greatly based on the treatment that is received. Radiation appears to play an important role in the further development of the condition and the complications likelihood. According to several studies, in 4% of the women treated with both lumpectomy and radiation therapy the condition may complicate into invasive cancer whereas invasive cancer is likely to occur in 14% of those who do not receive radiation.