Study Looks at Breast-Cancer Post-Op Care

A study released Wednesday sheds light on the benefits of re-excisions to catch residual cancer cells in breast cancer patients.

The study found that breast cancer patients with and without residual disease after surgery had similar local recurrence rates after re-excision and postoperative radiation therapy

Researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia followed 1,044 patients with stage I-II breast cancer who underwent lumpectomies.

The 199 patients in Group 1 had no cancer cells at the edges of the healthy tissue removed with their tumor (clear margins) and did not have additional surgery.

The 546 patients in Group 2 and the 299 patients in Group 3 had cancer cells near the edge of their surgery specimens (close margins, Group 2) or right at the edge of the specimens (positive margins, Group 3) and chose to have re-excisions in which more tissue was removed to eliminate as much cancer as possible.

All patients received postoperative radiation therapy to the tumor bed.

After 10 years, the number of local recurrences was 95 percent for Group I and 94 percent for Groups 2 and 3 together (95 percent for Group 2 and 91 percent for Group 3).

This study helps to clarify the role of a re-excision for a close or positive margin in women undergoing breast-conserving therapy for early-stage breast cancer, noted one of the researchers.

The study can be found in the August 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics.