Clear margins and ADH

worriedwoman

I have a question I am hoping someone might have an aswer for........I had an excisional biopsy almost two weeks ago- they took out two areas of calcifications. The results for the pathology were good- only ADH - no cancer found.( this is also what the two stereotactics showed as well) When I went yesterday for my follow up I saw the Nurse practioner not the surgeon- and I asked if she got all the ADH - clear margins as I understood from what I reasearched. She said they only look at that when it is cancer- and that ADH are only atypical  so they don't worry about that? Does than seem correct? I thought it would make sense to get all the ADH ?? Anyway- I am a little confused at this point and not sure what to think. Any insight would be really helpful. Thanks to all of you.

Beesie

ADH doesn't actually need to be removed.  Usually it is, but the reason is to determine if anything more serious is going on, since ADH and DCIS often go hand-in-hand. I had ADH in my stereotactic biopsy but then DCIS and a microinvasion of IDC was found when I had the excisional.  Finding something more than ADH happens about 20% of the time.  

In your case, if the majority of your ADH has been removed and only ADH has been found - no DCIS, no IDC - then there is no reason to go back in to get clear margins.