INTRODUCTION: Breast-conserving surgery (BCS), followed by appropriate adjuvant therapies is established as a standard treatment option for women with early-stage invasive breast cancers. A number of factors have been shown to correlate with local and regional disease recurrence. Although margin status is a strong predictor of disease recurrence, consensus is yet to be established on the optimum margin necessary. Margenthaler et al. recently proposed the use of a "margin index," combining tumor size and margin status as a predictor of residual disease after BCS. We applied this new predictive tool to a population of patients with primary breast cancer who presented to a symptomatic breast unit to determine its suitability in predicting those who require reexcision surgery. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of our breast cancer database from January 1, 2000 to June 30, 2010 was performed, including all patients who underwent BCS. Of 531 patients who underwent BCS, 27.1% (144/531) required further reexcision procedures, and 55 were eligible for inclusion in the study. Margin index was calculated as: margin index = closest margin (mm)/tumor size (mm) × 100, with index >5 considered optimum. RESULTS: Of the 55 patients included, 31% (17/55) had residual disease. Fisher's exact test showed margin index not to be a significant predictor of residual disease on reexcision specimen (P = 0.57). Of note, a significantly higher proportion of our patients presented with T2/3 tumors (60% vs. 38%). CONCLUSIONS: Although an apparently elegant tool for predicting residual disease after BCS, we have shown that it is not applicable to a symptomatic breast unit in Ireland.
INTRODUCTION: Breast-conserving surgery (BCS), followed by appropriate adjuvant therapies is established as a standard treatment option for women with early-stage invasive breast cancers. A number of factors have been shown to correlate with local and regional disease recurrence. Although margin status is a strong predictor of disease recurrence, consensus is yet to be established on the optimum margin necessary. Margenthaler et al. recently proposed the use of a "margin index," combining tumor size and margin status as a predictor of residual disease after BCS. We applied this new predictive tool to a population of patients with primary breast cancer who presented to a symptomatic breast unit to determine its suitability in predicting those who require reexcision surgery. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of our breast cancer database from January 1, 2000 to June 30, 2010 was performed, including all patients who underwent BCS. Of 531 patients who underwent BCS, 27.1% (144/531) required further reexcision procedures, and 55 were eligible for inclusion in the study. Margin index was calculated as: margin index = closest margin (mm)/tumor size (mm) × 100, with index >5 considered optimum. RESULTS: Of the 55 patients included, 31% (17/55) had residual disease. Fisher's exact test showed margin index not to be a significant predictor of residual disease on reexcision specimen (P = 0.57). Of note, a significantly higher proportion of our patients presented with T2/3 tumors (60% vs. 38%). CONCLUSIONS: Although an apparently elegant tool for predicting residual disease after BCS, we have shown that it is not applicable to a symptomatic breast unit in Ireland.
Authors: Julie B Siegel; Rupak Mukherjee; Yeonhee Park; Abbie R Cluver; Catherine Chung; David J Cole; Mark A Lockett; Nancy Klauber-DeMore; Andrea M Abbott Journal: Breast Cancer Res Treat Date: 2021-06-16 Impact factor: 4.872
Authors: Lily Yang; Hari Krishna Sajja; Zehong Cao; Weiping Qian; Laura Bender; Adam I Marcus; Malgorzata Lipowska; William C Wood; Y Andrew Wang Journal: Theranostics Date: 2013-12-17 Impact factor: 11.556