“I send every qualified patient I see with ductal carcinoma in situ (#DCIS) for the #DCISionRT test, even the ones with a tiny low-grade lesion, because sometimes the test reveals an elevated risk recurrence score, which is surprising. And I never want to miss offering radiation modality options to patients who will benefit. I have seen the greatest decision impact on those women who were not inclined to undergo radiation but when their DCISion score is high, they choose to proceed with radiation.”

“My advice for other doctors is use DCISionRT to help make a better, more informed decision with the DCIS patient. DCISionRT is a great tool that we have at our disposal to evaluate radiation therapy benefit and risk recurrence following breast conserving surgery, and the ongoing studies are going to be game changing.”

“For DCIS patients we don’t want to treat and subject patients to the side effects of radiation if the risk benefit ratio is low. That is why I am really excited about DCISionRT. DCISionRT is a risk assessment tool that looks at the patient’s tumor biology to determine an individual patient’s benefit of radiation therapy following breast conserving surgery, as well as the patient’s risk of DCIS recurring or progressing to invasive cancer.”

“I’m a big believer that prevention is the best type of cure. So, for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as stage zero breast cancer, we have a window of opportunity to be proactive before it becomes an invasive cancer. My philosophy is to personalize the treatment so that we are treating the right women and not treating the right women. I don’t want to subject someone to radiotherapy treatment if there’s no benefit for their particular tumor.”

“One of my missions is to help women understand the options that they have in breast cancer treatments. My best advice for someone who is first diagnosed is to ‘take a deep breath’. The initial reaction is to get online and find a doctor fast, when you really should find a doctor that is the right fit for you.”

I can confidently tell my DCIS patients if they will benefit from radiation therapy and design a treatment plan that is tailored to them

An experience early on in medical school had a defining impact on the direction of Dr. Arica Hirsch’s career. As a third-year medical student, Dr. Hirsch was doing clinical rotations in Internal Medicine […]

"I am dedicated to providing attentive, compassionate and personalized treatment to every patient."

"Every woman is unique and every woman's cancer is unique."