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After conserving surgery a pathologist measures how close the cancer came to the edge of the tissue removed. Cancer at the inked edge means another operation is offered; within 1 mm it is considered; and the threshold was lowered in 2024 specifically to spare people a second operation.
Answer a few questions from a report and read the guideline statement that applies, quoted word for word with its source. Educational aids to prepare for an appointment, not advice.
NICE NG101 says to offer further surgery, re-excision or mastectomy as appropriate, where invasive cancer or DCIS is present at the radial margins (tumour on ink, 0 mm); to consider further surgery after conserving surgery for invasive cancer with or without DCIS if tumour cells are present within 1 mm of but not at the radial margins; and to use 2 mm rather than 1 mm as the threshold for DCIS alone. The 2024 committee explained its reasoning plainly: a 1 mm margin is likely to achieve better breast preservation and result in fewer additional surgeries, repeated surgeries negatively affect breast appearance and can have a negative effect on self-esteem, and they are traumatic and can lead to stress, infection, pain and complications. It also noted that rates of further surgery currently vary across the country, and asked units to audit radial margins alongside recurrence. This is orientation from public patient pages, guidelines and the trials themselves, not advice for your case: your own team's instructions and 24-hour number come first, and no figure on this page is a prediction about you.
Most cancers start in the ducts and drain first to the axillary nodes, which is why the armpit is checked and a sentinel node is sampled.
Same organ: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer, Male breast cancer, Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), High-risk early HR-positive breast cancer, HR-positive metastatic breast cancer after CDK4/6 inhibitors, HER2-low and HER2-ultralow metastatic breast cancer, Early HER2-positive breast cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer with brain metastases, Early triple-negative breast cancer, Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, Basal-like 1 triple-negative breast cancer (BL1), Basal-like 2 triple-negative breast cancer (BL2), Mesenchymal triple-negative breast cancer (M), Mesenchymal stem-like triple-negative breast cancer (MSL), Luminal androgen receptor triple-negative breast cancer (LAR), Immunomodulatory triple-negative breast cancer (IM), Metaplastic breast carcinoma, Carcinoma with medullary pattern (medullary breast cancer), Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast, Apocrine carcinoma of the breast, Secretory carcinoma of the breast, BRCA-associated triple-negative breast cancer, Inflammatory breast cancer, Paget disease of the nipple, Phyllodes tumour of the breast, Invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast, Invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (invasive ductal carcinoma), Tubular carcinoma of the breast, Mucinous carcinoma of the breast, Papillary carcinomas of the breast (encapsulated, solid and invasive papillary), Invasive cribriform carcinoma of the breast, Invasive micropapillary carcinoma of the breast, Neuroendocrine neoplasms of the breast, Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS)
Showing the organ this term concerns: Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery), Mastectomy, Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery), Mastectomy, Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery), Mastectomy, Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery), Mastectomy, Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery), Mastectomy, Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Mastectomy, Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Mastectomy, Breast cancer (all types).