Debulking Surgery
An operation to reduce the size of a tumor by surgically removing as much as can be taken out safely without damage to other tissues. Performed to improve the chances that chemotherapy or radiation will be effective.
Deferred Therapy
Postponing treatment while closely observing the patient. Treatment begins if worsening changes occur in signs, symptoms, or test results. This strategy aims to avoid or postpone the side effects of treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation.
Definitive Diagnosis
A final diagnosis made after blood tests, biopsies, and other examinations are completed and the results are known.
Digital Mammography
The use of a computer, instead of x-ray mammography, to create a picture of the breast.
Disease-Free Survival
Defines the length of time after successful treatment for a cancer during which there are no signs or symptoms of that cancer. It is one way a clinical trial measures how well a new treatment works.
Dose-Dense Chemotherapy
Therapy given with treatments closer together than in a standard plan. It may lower the chance of recurrence for some cancers, but it can create more severe side effects and is therefore not for everyone.
Ductal Carcinoma
The most common type of breast cancer. It begins in the lining of the milk ducts. Ductal carcinoma in situ is a noninvasive condition in which abnormal cells have not spread outside the duct to other tissues in the breast. Invasive ductal carcinoma describes cancer that has spread outside the breast duct to nearby tissue or through the blood and lymph systems to other parts of the body.
