Nearly a quarter of breast cancer patients who undergo a lumpectomy — also commonly referred to as a partial mastectomy — will have to return for repeat surgery, according to the results of a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. And at least part of the cause, say the study authors, is a lack of consensus among surgeons about how much healthy tissue should be sacrificed when removing the tumor.
Researchers looked at breast tumor excisions from over 2,200 women and found that 23 percent of these women went back for at least one more surgical procedure that required excising more tissue. Since about 75 percent of breast cancer patients undergo lumpectomies, say the study authors, more effort should be made to better define the appropriate amount of tissue to be removed during such procedures.
Though ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross understands that, often doctors do not want to take out more tissue than necessary in order to preserve the breast and defer to their patient’s wishes, he points out that, nevertheless,“They shouldn’t be so consistently conservative that their patients end up back in the operating room.” He was surprised to learn that there is no consistent agreement among surgeons about the size of the margin that should be left around the removed tumor in order to reduce the risk of recurrence as well as the need for repeat operations.
