(Thumbnail image: Top News)

Breast cancer treatments usually consist of lumpectomies or mastectomies, but researchers from the University of California – San Francisco say they've found a way to figure out if women even need those intense procedures.

CBS News explains the different choices women have to make and some of the restrictions of traditional mammograms.

“It’s a dilemma facing all women diagnosed with a breast cancer called DCIS because it may not necessarily turn out to be deadly.”

“DCIS is picked up by mammography but the mammogram can’t tell you which cancers will never progress and which ones will become life threatening.”

The online news portal One India talked to a doctor who says this new study will help people get the right treatment.

“It will lead to a more personalized approach to treatment. As many as 44 percent of patients with DCIS may not require any further treatment, and can rely instead on surveillance,"

San Francisco’s local ABC station KGO-TV talked to one of the lead doctors of the UCSF study who says different types of cancer require different treatment.

“Breast cancer is complicated because it’s not one disease and so we really want to understand the different types of breast cancers that people show up with so that we can get prepared to start treating them differently.”

WebMD says most women get unnecessary surgeries when diagnosed with DCIS.

"...almost all are offered radiation after the lump is removed or mastectomy and sometimes hormone therapy…as many as 44 percent of women with DCIS may not require any treatment other than removal of the lump.”

While most media outlets are hailing the study, the New York Times reports some doctors are skeptical of when it will actually start to help.

“Several breast cancer experts not involved in the study said that the findings were an important step toward more personalized cancer treatment, but that they were not likely to change practice any time soon.”

For a link to the study by UCSF click on the transcript page.