Aims: Breast conservation treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) was unpopular in the Chinese population and the outcome was seldom reported. We conducted a single-centre retrospective study to examine the clinical outcome of women in Hong Kong.
Materials and methods: Seventy-five Chinese women were treated with wide local excision and radiotherapy for DCIS of the breast between 1994 and 2003. Only 26 (34.7%) women had non-palpable DCIS detected by screening mammograms. All women were treated with whole breast irradiation of 50 Gy in 2 Gy daily fractions, with 50 (66.7%) women receiving an additional electron boost of 10-16 Gy.
Results: The median follow-up was 5.1 years (range 2.0-10.7). At the last assessment, four women developed local recurrences, but all remained disease-free after salvage mastectomy. The 5-year actuarial local failure-free rate and cause-specific survival rate were 92.9% (95% confidence interval 89.4-96.4) and 100.0%, respectively. Cosmetic results were rated as good to excellent in all women. On univariate analysis of prognostic factors for local failure, only a close (< or = 2 mm) final resection margin approached statistical significance (hazard ratio 9.108; 95% confidence interval 0.946-87.655; P = 0.056). The 5-year actuarial local failure-free rates for women with a close (< or = 2 mm) final resection margin and women with wider margins were 77.0 and 98.2%, respectively.
Conclusions: Despite geographical and demographic differences, the clinical outcome after wide local excision and radiotherapy for DCIS of the breast in Chinese women is comparable with that in Western series. Efforts are needed to achieve cosmetically acceptable tumour-free margins greater than 2 mm.