The impact of intraoperative cavity shaving on re‐excision rates in breast‐conserving surgery

Abstract Background and Objectives This trial aimed to investigate the effects of circumferential shaving on reducing the reoperation rates during breast‐conserving surgery (BCS). Methods In the study, before 2014, 404 (39.9%) breast cancers (BCs) out of a total of 1012 BCs underwent BCS without intraoperative cavity shaving (ICS) and constituted the no‐ICS group. After this date, ICS was added to 608 (60.1%) BCSs (ICS group) and intraoperative margin analysis was not requested from pathologists during these second BCS procedures. Results The patient and BC characteristics in the no‐ICS and ICS groups were similar. Carcinoma detection at the margin and reoperation rates were 13.9% in the no‐ICS group and 7.6% in the ICS group ( p = 0.001). No significant difference was detected between patients who underwent BCS with intraoperative frozen section analysis (FSA) and patients who underwent BCS with additional ICS (5.6% vs. 7.6%, p = 0.383). Conclusions ICS decreased the rates of positive margins and reoperations among patients with BCS to an acceptable level compared with intraoperative FSA. It may be concluded that ICS is feasible to achieve BC margin control.