[1] It is considered a viable breast conservation therapy, as the amount of tissue removed is limited compared to a full-breast mastectomy, and thus may have physical and emotional advantages over more disfiguring treatment.

[5] Although early treatment of DCIS was similar to invasive breast cancer, involving full mastectomy and sometimes lymph node dissection, an evolution in understanding about the different kinds of breast cancer prompted investigations into the adequacy of less extreme surgical treatments.

[6] This was the first substantial data that showed that so-called "breast conserving therapy" was a real possibility.

Axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy, as a method of screening for metastatic disease in otherwise non-invasive DCIS, is falling out of favor because the risks of procedure outweigh any effect on outcomes.

[8] For patients with invasive ductal carcinoma who have lumpectomies, lymph node biopsy and radiation therapy are usually recommended.

A pathologist analyzes the margin excised by the lumpectomy to detect any possible cancer cells.