Intra-operative touch preparation cytology following lumpectomy for breast cancer: a series of 400 procedures.
OBJECTIVE
Achieving negative margins is essential in conservative treatment for breast cancer. The conventional method for intra-operative assessment of resection margins is gross or histological examination of frozen sections. We describe and evaluate the contribution of an original intra-operative touch preparation cytology (IOTPC) technique (400 procedures) performed on 396 patients.


METHODS
IOTPC consists of touching glass slides to the surfaces of interest after gently pressing the spatially localized specimen taken according to predetermined conditions. The result is conveyed to the surgeon immediately and compared with the conventional histological findings after embedding in paraffin.


RESULTS
The average response time is 10min, which renders the technique compatible with standard operating room procedures and its cost is reasonable. The method has a sensitivity of 88.6%, specificity of 92.2%, positive predictive value of 73.6%, negative predictive value of 97%, and correlation with paraffin section histology of 91.5%. Only 5 true false negatives were found in this series and the technique prevented 11.75% of secondary re-excision procedures for positive margins.


CONCLUSIONS
IOTPC is a reliable extemporaneous method for assessing surgical margins in conservative treatment for breast cancer and a useful tool for surgeons.
D'Halluin
François
F
Regional Mastology Center, Department of Surgical Oncology, Eugène Marquis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Avenue de la Bataille Flandres Dunkerque CS 44 229 F-35 042 Rennes Cedex, France.
Tas
Patrick
P
Rouquette
Sophie
S
Bendavid
Cécile
C
Foucher
Fabrice
F
Meshba
Habiba
H
Blanchot
Jérôme
J
Coué
Olivier
O
Levêque
Jean
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental; D008875:Middle Aged; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity