Why is lumpectomy not recommended for LCIS?

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is classified as a marker of increased breast cancer risk rather than a traditional type of breast cancer. It is often considered a multi-centric disease because it typically arises in multiple areas of the breast tissue concurrently and can be difficult to pinpoint during surgery. This characteristic makes lumpectomy — a surgical procedure aimed at removing a specific tumor along with a margin of surrounding healthy tissue — less effective. Since LCIS can be present in many locations within the breast, simply removing one segment of tissue does not address the possibility of remaining disease elsewhere in the breast.

The nature of LCIS necessitates a management strategy that often includes surveillance rather than surgical intervention because of this diffuse potential involvement throughout the breast. For patients diagnosed with LCIS, options may include close monitoring or preventive measures rather than lumpectomy, which does not adequately mitigate the risk of developing invasive breast cancer later on.