Recent advances: diagnosis and treatment of early breast cancer

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Abstract
In 1971 Gallagher and Martin coined the term “minimal breast cancer.”1 It included ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) of any size as well as invasive breast carcinoma with a diameter of 5 mm or less. The object was to create a group of lesions with a nodal positivity rate of 5% or less and a survival probability of 90% or more at 10 years. Today, no one should consider grouping these three disparate lesions together. Lobular carcinoma in situ is a risk factor for the later development of invasive breast cancer; the risk is shared equally by both breasts, and most clinicians do not recommend any treatment.2 3 Ductal carcinoma in situ is a heterogeneous group of lesions so diverse and complicated, that a 70 chapter textbook has just been published entirely about it,4 and it should not be grouped with small invasive breast carcinomas.