title: Significance of resection margin as a risk factor for local control of early stage breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast conserving surgery combined with sentinel node biopsy represents currently the gold standard of treatment for early breast cancer. Although breast conserving surgery has been a widely accepted method for many years, there remain some highly controversial unresolved issues. The present analysis focused on the resection margin as one of the key factors for local control of the disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patient disease free survival and overall survival were collected from patients undergoing breast conserving surgery from 2004 to 2009 at the Department of Surgery Atlas hospital Zlin, Czech Republic. All patients with resection margin less then 5 mm were re-resected to achieve this clear resection margin of 5mm or more. Disease free survival (more specifically local relapse free survival, metastasis free survival and regional free survival) and overall survival were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The data on 330 patients were analyzed and 286/330 cases had complete follow-up. After a median follow-up of 70 months, 7 patients with isolated local relapse were identified (2.44%), 13 patients with distant metastasis without local relapse (4.54%) and 2 patients with relapse in the axilla without local relapse in the breast (0.7%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The final decision about the extent of resection margin remains controversial but based on the data on local control presented here it seems reasonable to increase the criteria for a clear resection margin to 5 mm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Atlas Hospital, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Zlin, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gatek
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vrana
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lukesova
authors.forename: Marketa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pospiskova
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vazan
authors.forename: Bohuslav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Melichar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000532:radiotherapy; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D016896:Treatment Outcome