Cutting more tissue can halt breast cancer

Published on Monday 18 October 2010 18:46

Removing two millimetres of tissue from around breast cancer tumours can prevent the disease coming back, experts believe.

Surgeons vary in how much they take away around growths when carrying out surgery designed to conserve as much of the breast as possible.

But a new study has found that residual disease - stray cancer cells which can cause the disease to come back - can be prevented in 98 per cent of patients who have breast-conserving surgery.

In those with invasive cancer, a 2mm or greater margin around the tumour dramatically cut the chances of having residual disease. As a result, experts behind the study called for new guidelines to ensure consistency.

The research is important because almost half of these patients whose disease returns will find it spreads to other organs, which is more serious.

A total of 303 patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery between 2002 and 2008 were included in the study, led by Dr Stephen Ward, of Good Hope Hospital in the West Midlands.