Tuesday 4 July 2017

Evaluation of margins in invasive carcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ: The pathologist's perspective

Evaluation of margins in invasive carcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ: The pathologist's perspective

Schnitt SJ
The Breast 
Article in Press

A variety of patient factors, treatment factors and pathologic factors are associated with an increased risk of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (local recurrence) after breast conservation therapy for invasive breast cancer and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Arguably, the most important of these is the status of the microscopic margins of excision of the resected breast specimen. Until recently there has been no agreement on what constitutes an adequate negative lumpectomy margin for patients with either invasive breast cancer or DCIS managed with the breast conserving approach  and this issue has never been addressed in randomized clinical trials.