But automatically calling something cancer can lead to aggressive treatment, even if the cancer in question is unlikely to cause problems. For prostate cancer, a biopsy showing a grade of Gleason 6 (also known as Grade Group 1) is considered low or very low risk. In breast cancer, diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, is similarly low or very low risk, representing the very earliest, noninvasive stage of the disease. These findings make up about 20 percent to 25 percent of all prostate and breast cancer diagnoses in the United States, involving about 100,000 people annually. Accordingly, many make the understandable choice of aggressive treatment they don’t require.

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Persons: Gleason, Esserman Locations: United States