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Hawaiian, Filipino and Japanese women more likely to develop an invasive second breast cancer after earlier ductal carcinoma in situ

Among women in Hawaii diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a non-invasive or pre-invasive breast cancer, Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and Japanese women were significantly more likely to develop an invasive second breast cancer compared with White and Chinese women.

The number of DCIS diagnoses in recent years has increased due in part to improvements in mammography screening. While the prognosis in these cases is usually good, study researchers said that up to 40 percent of women develop a second breast cancer after DCIS, 28 percent of which are invasive breast cancers.

The researchers led by Kekoa Taparra, MD, of Stanford University examined the medical records of more than 6,200 female Hawaii residents who received a DCIS diagnosis between 1973 and 2017. Seven percent of these women developed invasive second breast cancers. Native Hawaiian women were more than three times as likely to develop the second cancers as White and Chinese residents.

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