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A Necessary Procedure?

Harold A. Oberman, MD

Arch Surg. 1993;128(9):955-956.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

PROFOUND CHANGES have occurred in the management of breast cancer in recent years. Only a decade ago it was uncommon for patients to participate in decisions about their initial treatment; therefore, it was logical for a clinically or mammographically detected abnormality to be excised and immediately diagnosed by frozen section (FS) and, if carcinoma was present, for the surgeon to proceed with mastectomy. This allowed the patient to have definitive surgical treatment in a single procedure and with a single anesthetic. The FS interpretation of the initial biopsy specimen was pivotal in determining whether or not the mastectomy would be performed.

The advent of lumpectomy followed by irradiation of the breast as an alternative to mastectomy for treatment of carcinoma has modified the need for immediate pathologic assessment of the biopsy specimen. The patient can choose between a mastectomy and conservation therapy, and this choice can be made only after . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Ann Arbor, Mich

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