Breast cancer has become a growing concern in society. Today 224,147 women and 2,125 men in the United States were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Experts said rushing for surgery is not the only option; they suggested that watchful waiting for low-grade DCIS is a better option.

Experts have been trying for a better alternative to reduce overdiagnosis and overtreatment, especially of DCIS. Researchers got a sigh of relief and a big boost in August after a new study revealed it s findings.

The study consisting of more than 100,000 women diagnosed with DCIS between 1988 and 2011 was conducted by Dr. Steven Narod of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. The study findings showed that DCIS patients had the similar risk of dying of breast cancer as women in general population.

As per study’s findings the surgery radiation and drugs didn’t brought any change in the majority of patients. It was found that just3% of patients with DCIS died within 20 years.

Study researchers said that African-American women below the age of 35 and with aggressive molecular features had significantly higher chance of dying of breast cancer. Researchers found that these women died even after receiving highly aggressive treatment.

A separate study published in June found nearly 1,169 DCIS patients who managed to escape surgery as compared to 56,053 women who underwent the recommended operation.

The researchers, led by Dr. Yasuaki Sagara of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, recommended watchful waiting for low-grade DCIS. “From these results, we could consider recommending a strategy of nonoperative management with active surveillance similar to that used … in prostate cancer”, they said.

“We need to collect the data that will allow for clear risk communication with patients so they can make their own decisions about their care,” she said. “The DCIS Score, other risk-stratification factors, and the biospecimens we get from the European studies will help us identify those low-risk patients.”