Removing more tissue around breast tumour reduces need for further surgery

Removing additional tissue around the cavity left after excising a tumour during partial mastectomy in women with early breast cancer halves the rate of positive margins that require further surgery, a randomised study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine has shown.1

Survival in women with early stage breast cancer who undergo partial mastectomy is equivalent to survival in those with total mastectomy. Margin status, which assesses whether cancer cells extend to the edge of the apparently healthy tissue removed …