For patients with earliest stage of breast cancer, how much treatment is enough?

• DCIS, often called Stage Zero breast cancer, is the earliest stage and often diagnosed via mammogram, with no symptoms.
• In most cases, DCIS will not turn into a life-threatening tumor, but doctors haven't been able to distinguish dangerous tumors from harmless ones.
• Now, they're trying to 'rightsize' care, focusing aggressive treatment only on those who need it.

After a breast biopsy at age 40, Rawan Kajo was given two options: Surgeons could remove one breast, or both. 

Kajo, a pharmacist living in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, didn't like either choice. What had been found in one breast was a calcification, not a tumor – essentially a risk factor for future cancer.

"If it was a tumor, I wouldn't give it a second thought," she said about the surgery. "But we're doing this aggressive treatment to eliminate a risk that might never end in a real problem."