Annals of diagnostic pathology
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Comparative Study
Comparison of margin status and lesional size between radioactive seed localized vs conventional wire localized breast lumpectomy specimens.
Despite the known benefits of the use of radioactive seed localization (RSL), few studies have looked at the resultant pathologic marginal status of these lumpectomy specimens, especially in regard to different definitions of close/positive margins. We compared the marginal status of lumpectomy specimens removed by either RSL or conventional wire localization (CWL) techniques. A total of 106 lumpectomy specimens including 62 by CWL and 44 by RSL for invasive ductal and lobular carcinomas were compared. ⋯ This study shows that there were no significant marginal status differences between RSL and CWL lumpectomy specimens with invasive carcinoma. Rather, what was relevant is whether the entire specimen could be classified as having negative/close margins. Significant workflow challenges in surgical pathology laboratories are expected with the adoption of the RSL process.