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Do cancer cells still remain in a patient after surgery has been performed? A recent research was carried out on breast cancer patients to determine the aftermath of surgery. It was suggested that some of these patients might be able to do without radiation after the surgery and still have a low risk of recurrence.

A lumpectomy is defined as a breast conserving surgery where doctors remove the tumor together with a portion of the normal breast tissue. The normal breast tissue removed is known as a margin. A margin that contains tumor cells is positive whereas a margin with no cancer cells is negative.

The above research had shown that whether tumor cells remain in the patient after the surgery depends the following two factors:

a. The size of the margin (normal breast tissue) removed lumpectomy b. The size of the tumor in the margin removed during lumpectomy

The above research was carried out on a sampling group of 253 breast cancer patients who were treated with lumpectomy and re-excision from the year 1987 to 2000.

The researchers examined the size of the margin, whether it was positive or negative as well as the patient's age. They also categorized the amount of tumor left in the patient from microscopic to large.

It was then concluded that patients with a greater amount of tumor cells in the surrounding tissue, the more likely the tumor cells remained in the breast after surgery. They also found that 63 percent of the patients with no tumor cells in the surrounding tissue had no additional cancer cells when they underwent re-excision.

This study therefore helped to identify women who were unlikely to have additional tumor cells remaining in their breast after surgery. As such, it wouldl not be necessary for them to undergo further treatment including post-operative radiation therapy.

SOURCE: Cancer, 2002; 94:1917-1924