The therapy of ductal carcinoma in situ is controversial, but is being
more and more decided by the pathologic evidence. What we know of the
natural history of ductal carcinoma in situ is that the comedo and no
n-comedo examples seem quite different. As detailed in several reviews
, the information from studies following patients after biopsy alone i
ndicate a great difference between the small non-comedo examples of du
ctal carcinoma in situ and the larger comedo DCIS. The currently avail
able evidence from cases which have been treated by planned surgical e
xcision without radiation therapy would indicate that the non-comedo e
xamples of DCIS may be adequately treated by this modality as indicate
d in several recent studies.