PREVENTATIVE SOLUTIONS. IN TONIGHT’S WOMAN’S DOCTOR, WE ALL KNOW THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENT STAGES OF BREAST CANCER, BUT HAVE YOU HEARD OF STAGE ZERO? MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST. DOCTOR SANDY CUTAIA AT MERCY MEDICAL CENTER SAYS CANCER REALLY IS A SPECTRUM. SHE SAYS YOU DON’T START OUT WITH A NORMAL CELL AND IT BECOMES CANCER. THE NEXT DAY. IT EVOLVES OVER TIME. YOU GO FROM A CANCER FROM A NORMAL CELL TO A LITTLE BIT DAMAGED CELL, A LITTLE BIT MORE DAMAGE LOOKS A LITTLE FUNNY, AND THEN IT BECOMES INVASIVE CANCER THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO SPREAD. SO STAGE ZERO IS THE STEP BEFORE THAT WE CALL IT DUCTAL CARCINOMA. IN SITU. AND I THINK OF IT AS A PRECANCEROUS LESION. AND HALF OF THEM WILL BECOME CANCER AND HALF OF THEM WON’T. SINCE WE DON’T HAVE A WAY OF KNOWING WHICH ONE OF THEM, WHICH LESION WILL CONVERT TO CANCER, WE TEND TO REMOVE IT. WELL, DOCTOR KATAYA SAYS SURGERY CURES ABOUT 97% OF THOSE CASES. SHE SAYS THE NEXT QUESTION FOR THESE PATIENTS IS HOW DO WE PREVENT IT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN? THAT’S WHERE SHE SAYS RADIATION
Woman’s Doctor: Have you heard of ‘Stage 0’ breast cancer?
Updated: 5:42 PM EDT Oct 28, 2024
People may be aware that there are different stages of breast cancer, but few have heard of “Stage 0.”Dr. Sandy Kotiah, a medical oncologist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, said cancer is a spectrum, explaining that people don’t start out with a normal cell and it becomes cancer the next day — it evolves over time.”You go from a cancer from a normal cell to a little bit damaged cell, a little bit more damage looks a little funny, and then it becomes invasive cancer that has the potential to spread. So, ‘Stage 0’ is the step before that we call it ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). And, I think of it as a pre-cancer lesion and half of them will become cancer, half of them won’t. Since we don’t have a way of knowing which one of them, which lesion will convert to cancer, we tend to remove it,” Kotiah said.Kotiah also said surgery cures about 97% of those cases. She said the next question for these patients is “How do we prevent this from happening again?” That’s where she said radiation or hormonal blocking medication may come into play.
BALTIMORE —
People may be aware that there are different stages of breast cancer, but few have heard of “Stage 0.”
Dr. Sandy Kotiah, a medical oncologist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, said cancer is a spectrum, explaining that people don’t start out with a normal cell and it becomes cancer the next day — it evolves over time.
“You go from a cancer from a normal cell to a little bit damaged cell, a little bit more damage looks a little funny, and then it becomes invasive cancer that has the potential to spread. So, ‘Stage 0’ is the step before that we call it ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). And, I think of it as a pre-cancer lesion and half of them will become cancer, half of them won’t. Since we don’t have a way of knowing which one of them, which lesion will convert to cancer, we tend to remove it,” Kotiah said.
Kotiah also said surgery cures about 97% of those cases. She said the next question for these patients is “How do we prevent this from happening again?” That’s where she said radiation or hormonal blocking medication may come into play.