Why Discuss Ductal Carcinoma In-Situ at a Major Oncology Conference?

Among the many hot topics discussed at the 2026 American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO) Summit, radiation therapy for breast cancer was discussed frequently. Jean L. Wright, MD, FASTRO, delivered one such presentation on breast cancer titled “Updates and Best Practices for [ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)]”.

As evidenced by the name, she detailed the current updates and best practices for treating patients who are diagnosed with DCIS. Notably, while DCIS is not a high-risk diagnosis and is instead a low-risk diagnosis, there are a great deal of options available to patients, which can complicate the decision-making process. Currently, surgery does remain the standard-of-care; however, investigators still seek a non-surgical strategy to manage DCIS.

Wright, the chair of the radiation oncology department, as well as a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, spoke with CancerNetwork® during the Summit. Throughout the conversation, she also highlighted how, after a patient completes surgery, they are still able to decide between receiving endocrine therapy or radiation. Wright also reiterated the constant flow of new information and data on DCIS.

Transcript:

Why is it important to discuss DCIS care?

Well, it’s an important topic, because even though ductal carcinoma in situ is a low-risk diagnosis, as I emphasized in the presentation, the decision-making around how we’re going to treat patients with DCIS is amongst the most complex, just because of the very wide range of options that we have. As I shared in the talk, most patients present asymptomatically and have to first make a decision about undergoing surgery. Surgery is the standard treatment right now, but there is a lot of interest in exploring non-surgical management. There’s a lot of discussion that, particularly certain motivated patients, will bring that into the conversation, which you have to be facile with addressing. Then postoperatively, you have radiation, you have endocrine therapy, and then even within those categories, you have a wide range of options. There’s so much to consider. I’ll also say that just preparing for this talk, I looked back on what had been published even within the last year, and there's just constant new information that's coming out. There’s just a lot to think about.