Association of surgical margins with local recurrence in patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy

BackgroundThe aim of the current study was to report a single-institution experience using breast-conserving surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), focusing on the association between microscopic resection margin status and locoregional recurrence (LRR).MethodsOur institutional prospectively maintained database was reviewed to identify patients who were treated with NACT between January 2008 and April 2018.ResultsAmong the main partial mastectomy specimens available for analysis (n=161), 28 had margins <1mm, 21 had margin width of 1-2mm and the remaining 112 had margins >2mm. LRR occurred in 16 patients (9.9%) and distant metastases were detected in 27 (16.8%) patients. There was no significant difference in the LRR between the >2mm margin group with a 60-month cumulative survival of 85.2% compared with 76.2% for the <= 2mm group (P= 0.335) in the Kaplan-Meier analysis. When we stratified patients by margin widths of >= 1mm or< 1mm, there was no LRR-free survival benefit observed for the <greater than or equal to>1mm pathologic excision margin group in the univariate analysis (hazard ratio=0.443; 95% confidence interval=0.142-1.383; P= 0.161) with a 60-month cumulative LRR-free survival of 84.9% compared with 69.5% for the <1mm margin cohort (P= 0.150).ConclusionsIn the absence of multiple scattered microscopic tumour foci, a negative margin of no ink on tumour maybe sufficient for stage I-III invasive breast cancer treated with NACT and breast-conserving surgery.