What do they mean by margins in breast cancer?

In some hospitals, doctors want 2 millimeters (mm) or more of normal tissue between the edge of the cancer and the outer edge of the removed tissue. In other hospitals, though, doctors consider a 1-mm rim of healthy tissue — and sometimes even smaller than that — to be a clear margin.

What does clear margins mean after lumpectomy?

A clear, negative, or clean margin means there are no cancer cells at the outer edge of tissue that was removed.

What does it mean to remove a tumor and surrounding tissues until clean margins are achieved?

If a woman, instead, has a lumpectomy, the surgeon’s intention is to achieve clean margins. This means removing the malignant tumor with a surrounding area of healthy tissue. You likely have heard of circumstances when a woman needs to go back for a second or even third attempt to achieve these important clean margins.

What does margins negative on a pathology report indicate?

Negative margins: Removed breast tissue around the tumor in which the outer edge is free of cancer cells. Also called “clean margins.”

What is positive surgical margin?

A positive surgical margin is ‘defined as tumor extending to the inked-surface or margin of the prostate’ and is determined by the pathologist. One can think of this situation as removing an orange where the peel is the capsule of the prostate and the fruit is the cancer.

What is a positive margin?

The margin is described as positive or involved when the pathologist finds cancer cells at the edge of the tissue, suggesting that all of the cancer has not been removed.

What happens after osteosarcoma treatment?

When chemotherapy is used as a treatment for osteosarcoma, most of the side effects appear during the treatment process. For instance, nausea, fatigue, hair loss, anemia and loss of appetite may occur, but these symptoms typically resolve within a few weeks after treatment is completed.

Do I need chemo if lymph nodes are clear?

Chemotherapy is almost always recommended if there is cancer in the lymph nodes, regardless of tumor size or menopausal status.

What type of breast cancer has the highest recurrence rate?

T2N1-stage malignancies showed the highest risk for local recurrence, regional recurrence, and distant metastases (6.2\%, 5.2\% and 19.6\%, respectively) within 10 years from diagnosis.

What does a pathologist look for in a breast biopsy?

The tissue sample is examined by a pathologist (a doctor who specializes in diagnosing disease) to see if cancer cells are present. If cancer is present, the pathologist then looks at the cancer’s characteristics. Biopsy is usually a simple procedure.

What does a clear margin mean in a breast cancer diagnosis?

Sometimes the pathology report also will tell you how wide the clear margin is — the distance between the outer edge of the surrounding tissue removed and the edge of the cancer. When margins are clear, usually no additional surgery is needed.

What is the deep margin after a mastectomy for breast cancer?

In rare cases after a mastectomy, the deep margin (the margin closest to the chest wall) contains cancer cells. In these cases, more surgery and/or radiation therapy may be recommended.

What happens if there is a positive margin for invasive cancer?

Sometimes, all of the invasive cancer is removed, but there may be pre-cancer or another serious condition at or near the margin, such as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS). If your pathology report shows positive margins, your doctor will talk to you about what treatment is best.

What does it mean when margins are clear after surgery?

Margins are checked after surgical biopsy, lumpectomy, and mastectomy. Your pathology report may say that the surgical margins are: Clear (also called Negative or Clean): No cancer cells are seen at the outer edge of the tissue that was removed (the tumor along with the rim of surrounding tissue).