“DCIS wasn’t a journey for me, it was a nightmare,” was how Beth began the conversation. As a fellow DCIS survivor, I was eager to hear her story and immediately curious about which parts of her treatment were the most challenging and how DCISionRT influenced her treatment decisions.

Diagnosis and Decisions

Beth was diagnosed with DCIS in March 2025 after an abnormal mammogram, and she said that it immediately felt like she was sucked into a vortex. Her nurse navigator shared with her the “standard of care” treatment for DCIS—either a mastectomy or a lumpectomy plus radiation.

“I knew I didn’t want radiation, but I wanted a lumpectomy. So, when I talked to my surgeon about my options, I agreed to speak with the radiation oncologist, just so the surgeon would agree to do my lumpectomy.”

It was during that radiation oncology appointment that Beth first learned about DCISionRT. There was an informational brochure in the office, and her radiation oncologist provided more details about how the test helps DCIS patients and how it is used to make personalized radiation decisions based on their tumor biology.

Lumpectomy Time

But first, Beth needed a lumpectomy.

Getting to that first surgery was not simple and straightforward. “The surgeon really wanted to do a mastectomy on me, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do.” The surgeon recommended that she get an MRI and genetic testing, but after careful research, Beth decided that she didn’t want to do those additional tests before surgery.

Unfortunately, the surgeon didn’t achieve clean margins during the first lumpectomy, so another surgery was needed.

“I wasn’t too worried about the second surgery, because the first one went well. But after the second one, the margins came back this time at one millimeter, and they are supposed to be two.”

Beth was frustrated. The appointments and decisions felt endless.  She met with the medical oncologist, who wanted to prescribe her endocrine therapy, and met with the radiation oncologist. It was nonstop appointments, and she was ready to be done with DCIS.

The radiation oncologist was concerned about the close margins after the second lumpectomy, so she ordered another mammogram to check if there was any DCIS still visible on imaging.

And there was.

So now Beth needed another biopsy.

I was beginning to see why Beth was calling her DCIS treatment a nightmare.

Time for Another Opinion (and more surgery)

Unfortunately, the biopsy came back positive for DCIS, and at this point, the surgeon was recommending a mastectomy.  “I was ready for a second opinion.”

Beth’s second surgeon looked over all of her records and agreed to do a third lumpectomy.

At this point, it was nearing the end of the year.

Beth had been dealing with DCIS surgeries and recovery for most of the year and had also broken her ankle. So, in addition to recovering from surgeries, she was also unable to drive herself to her appointments.

When would this nightmare end? And would she need radiation?

Asking for DCISionRT

During her recovery, Beth’s dad, a retired radiologist, had sent her some research highlighting that DCIS patients benefited from DCISionRT. She remembered the brochure from the radiation oncology office months earlier and requested that the radiation oncologist send her DCIS out for testing.

“The radiation oncologist didn’t usually order it on high-grade DCIS, and she had already shared that her preferred treatment for my case was 25 sessions of whole breast radiation and 5 boosts to the tumor area.” At her request, Beth’s radiation oncologist sent out for DCISionRT on a Friday, and the results were back in time for her appointment early the next week.

To Beth’s delight and the radiation oncologist’s surprise, the test showed her DCISionRT score as 0.8—the lowest score possible. “I’m not going to do radiation with a score that shows I would have no benefit from radiation” she told her doctor.

Though the radiation oncologist offered to proceed with treatment, Beth shared, “It was the beginning of December, and I was ready to be done. I had done my research and was confident that I could safely skip radiation with that low of a score.”

Beth said that she’d read every single bit of information on the PreludeDx site and was impressed by the research. It gave her the confidence she needed to put an end to the DCIS nightmare she’d been walking through all year.

Encouragement for Other DCIS Patients

As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Beth how she would encourage a newly diagnosed patient with DCIS.

“Being newly diagnosed is like being sucked up in a vortex. You really need to advocate for yourself, do your research, and ask for the tests that can help you make decisions.”

As Beth begins a new year, she is looking forward to traveling and spending less time recovering from surgeries.

Thank you, Beth, for sharing your DCIS story with us.