Abstract
Background: Surgical margin negativity is highly related to local recurrence of breast cancer. The authors performed this study to evaluate if specimen mammography or ultrasonography can replace the frozen section procedure for surgical margins. Methods: One-hundred fifty five patients with breast cancer were included in this study. After the surgery, the frozen biopsies were assessed in more than three different directions, and all specimens were analyzed with mammography and ultrasonography. The clinicopathologic characteristics of the patients were assessed, and closest tumor margin–resection margin distance (TM–RM distance) to the tumor was compared among specimen mammography, ultrasonography, and pathology. Results: On comparing initial cases of positive and negative margins, the mean closest TM–RM distance in specimen ultrasonography and final pathologic reports was statistically different between both groups (DCIS: p < 0.001, p = 0.006; IDC: p = 0.042, p = 0.022). Conclusion: When the closest TM–RM distance is less than 1.8 mm in specimen ultrasonography, the frozen section cannot be waived because of high risk of margin positivity. However, if the closest TM–RM distance is >4 mm in specimen ultrasonography, the frozen section can be omitted carefully because of the very low risk of margin positivity.
Clinical efficacy of intraoperative ultrasound for margin assessment in breast conserving surgery
