Intra-operative assessment of excision margins using breast imprint and scrape cytology

Local recurrence in breast cancer surgery is related to the completeness of excision. Histological analysis of excision margins is time consuming and impractical for use intra-operatively. Our group evaluated breast imprint and scrape cytology (ISC) for the assessment of excision margins in a feasibility study in 1993-4, with 10 year clinical follow-up. Twenty-six consecutive women undergoing 27 wide local excisions for breast cancer had excision margins prospectively assessed with intra-operative ISC blinded to histology. All ISC results were ready (range 22-30 min) before surgery was completed. ISC agreed with histology in 21/27 (=78%) and disagreed in 6/27 (=22%) of the cases. In two cases with local recurrence, histology was positive in one case, whereas ISC margins were positive in both. Intra-operative ISC is reliable and could help the surgeon to excise more tissue to prevent a second (re-excision) operation. ISC margins may predict clinical outcome, although a larger interventional follow-up study is required.