DCIS - size

Bar65
Bar65 Member Posts: 20
edited June 2014 in DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)

I just had surgery last week to remove a 1.6 cm area of DCIS.  Weird thing is, up until surgery, everyone kept saying I only had 1 cm (even though the person who read my MRI said approximately 1.5 cm, but I wasn't sure which area he meant - I had two biopsies on the same breast.  One came back DCIS, the other was fine).  I asked right before my surgery to confirm and the surgeon said 1.6.  Anyways, everyone always says 1 cm is the size of a pea.  How exactly do they measure the area?  Does 1.6 mean the total circumference if you measured it around? 

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  • BLinthedesert
    BLinthedesert Member Posts: 678
    edited June 2012

    1.6 cm would the the largest area ... usually it is measured length x width x depth and they report the largest of the dimensions as "the size".  

    It is not uncommon for DCIS to be rather small - though there is often multiple "foci"  because although, by definition, DCIS has not broken out of the ducts - it does often travel through them and show up in mutiple ducts.  

    There is no real way to find out how large your area is until after surgery ... MRI often "over-estimates" and mammogram often "under-estimates" size.

    Good luck!! 

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