RECURRENT MAMMARY-CARCINOMA AFTER LOCAL EXCISION - A SEGMENTAL PROBLEM

Background. The acceptance of local operative therapy for mammary carc inoma has stimulated scrutiny of specific techniques with the goals of minimizing the incidence of local recurrence while optimizing the cos metic result. Intraductal spread of carcinoma has been established as a major factor in determining the rate of local recurrence after breas t-conserving therapy for mammary carcinoma. The relationship of the an atomic location of a recurrent neoplasm to that of the primary tumor i s likely to be instructive in evaluating the effectiveness of various proposed approaches to primary excision. Methods. Using the tumor regi stry of a tertiary care medical center, the authors reviewed all patie nts with mammary carcinoma treated with primary local excision during a 9-year period (1984-1992; n = 86), and identified all patients who s ubsequently experienced local recurrence (n = 5). The pathologic anato mic findings in each case were reviewed carefully and correlated with clinical and mammographic data. Results. The rate of local recurrence in this series was 5.8%, similar to that of Veronesi's ''lumpectomy'' group (7%). In all five patients, the recurrent lesion was located in the same breast quadrant, along a radius from the nipple to the edge o f the breast disc that crossed the site of the initial lesion. Conclus ion. Local recurrence of mammary carcinoma after breast-conserving ope rative therapy most often occurs within the same segment; it is theref ore proposed that its incidence may be substantially reduced with the use of a primary excision technique (based on normal breast anatomy) t hat removes en bloc the dominant tumor mass and the associated (possib ly diseased) duct system.