Between 70 and 90% of women with newly diagnosed, early-stage breast cancer are candidates for breast-conserving surgery, or lumpectomy, followed by radiation. In this procedure, surgeons remove the cancer along with a small amount of normal tissue surrounding the tumor — known as a surgical margin — to reduce the chance of leaving cancer cells behind. Roughly 25 percent of women who receive a lumpectomy return to the operating room to have additional normal tissue removed. Of these women, approximately half have negative margins — defined as no tumor cells at the edge of the lumpectomy specimen. It has been widely thought that increasing the surgical margin would lower the risk of the cancer returning in that breast. Now a new guideline issued jointly by two medical organizations recommends against performing this second procedure following lumpectomy. The guideline is expected to save patients from unnecessary surgery while still minimizing the risk of the cancer returning.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 13:28:32 +0000
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