Women with ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS) wrongly perceive that their risk of disease recurrence and death is similar to that of women with invasive breast cancer, an intriguing study has found.

The research, by a team of Dutch oncologists, included women diagnosed with DCIS or invasive breast cancer (T1N0M0) in three hospitals in the period 2002-2003. Questionnaires were sent to all 180 women and returned by 135, giving a 75% response rate.

Scores on the Short-Form 36 (physical and mental components) and the World Health Organization-5 index, which measures general wellbeing, were similar between women with the two types of cancer.

However, those with DCIS felt their disease had a less negative effect on their physical health, sex life, and relationships with friends and acquaintances than that perceived by women with invasive breast cancer.

This was in spite of the DCIS group believing that they were at similar risk of disease recurrence and death as women with invasive disease.

In other unexpected findings, both groups of women reported less bodily pain than did the general population, and women with DCIS had better scores on the physical component scale than the average Dutch woman of the same age.

"Our findings once more seem to suggest that being diagnosed for DCIS or invasive breast cancer will not just have a negative impact on the HRQL and wellbeing," write Adri Voogd (Free University Amsterdam) and fellow authors.

"The confrontation with DCIS or invasive breast cancer rather paradoxically seems to have a generally positive impact."

Nevertheless, they stress the importance of informing women with DCIS "with meticulous care" about the precise nature of their disease and its very good prognosis in order to prevent unnecessary worry and distress.

Eur J Cancer 2007; 43: 549-556