Abstract
PurposeThis is the first study to systematically evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of intraoperative specimen radiography on margin level and its potential to reduce second surgeries in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. MethodsThis retrospective study included 174 cases receiving breast conserving surgery (BCS) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) of primary breast cancer. Conventional specimen radiography (CSR) was performed to assess potential margin infiltration of the target lesion and recommend an intraoperative re-excision of any radiologically positive margin. The histological workup of the specimen served as gold standard for the evaluation of the accuracy of CSR and the potential reduction of second surgeries by CSR-guided re-excisions. A subgroup analysis was performed for patients with and without clinical complete response. Results 1044 margins were assessed. Of 47 (4.5%) histopathological positive margins, CSR identified 9 correctly (true positive). 38 infiltrated margins were missed (false negative). This resulted in a sensitivity of 19.2%, a specificity of 89.2%, a PPV of 7.7% and a NPV of 95.9%. The rate of secondary procedures was reduced from 23 to 16 with a number needed to treat (NNT) of CSR guided intraoperative re-excisions of 25. In the subgroup of patients with cCR, the prevalence of positive margins was 10/510 (2.0%), PPV was 1.9% and the NNT was 85. ConclusionPositive margins after NACT are rare and CSR has only a low sensitivity to detect them. Thus, the rate of secondary surgeries cannot be significantly reduced by recommending targeted re-excisions, especially in cases with cCR.
Is specimen radiography still necessary in patients with non-palpable breast cancer undergoing breast-conserving surgery using radioactive I-125 seed localization?
