Secondary operations are frequently required to complete the surgical phase of therapy in the era of breast conservation and sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Background: Breast conservation therapy (BCT) is an oncologically equivalent and cosmetically preferable alternative to mastectomy for most early-stage breast cancers. The number of operations required to complete the surgical phase of therapy with BCT has not been widely reported.

Methods: From our institutional tumor registry, we reviewed the records of all patients receiving primary surgical therapy for breast cancer from January 1, 1998, to June 30, 2002. There were 204 patients with 210 breast cancers in the cohort. These cancers were initially managed with either BCT (n = 150) or mastectomy (modified radical mastectomy or total mastectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy) (n = 60). We compared the percentages of patients in each group who required additional surgeries to obtain clear margins, manage axillary disease, or otherwise complete the surgical phase of therapy. Patients with secondary surgery related to long-term local recurrence were excluded.

Results: Fifty-one percent of patients initially managed with BCT required additional surgery compared with 12% in the mastectomy group (P <0.05). Factors independently associated with multiple surgeries among all patients included management with BCT (odds ratio [OR] 5.4, P = 0.01) and positive margins at initial excision (OR 4.7, P <0.01). Significant independent predictors of positive margins included BCT (OR 11.9, P <0.01); disease stage (OR 6.7, P <0.01); submission of supplemental margins in addition to the main specimen (OR 2.8, P = 0.03); and positive nodes (OR 1.1, P = 0.04). Breast conservation was ultimately successful in 95% of patients who underwent BCT.

Conclusions: Patients undergoing BCT may require multiple surgeries to reconcile successful breast conservation with sound oncologic resection.