Anyone have close margins with DCIS and go back for re-excision?

I went back in for a re-excision for a "close margin" of less than one mm. My RO said she would not allow me to enter the clinical trial I signed up for (partial breast rads) if I did not have larger margins of at least 5mm each side so back I went. It was fine..just a pain in the butt really. Now I have nice large margins with closest being 10mm and that is a very very good thing as margin size can predict recurrence sometimes. Best to you whatever you choose to do. 

Nancy, .8mm is a good sized margin actually. Had mine been that, she would not have re-excised me. The RO likes .5mm, but would accept anything over .4mm but mine was less than .1mm!

Edited to add tha my tiny 1mm margin was also clear...just too close for comfort for the partial breast rads trial cause they pin point the rays and give me very high doses 2X a day for a week so it had to be big enough so that the rays got it all since it was not whole breast rads.

there has been new guidance on the issue of margins - essentially size doesn't matter as long as there is A MARGIN. this piece on BCO explains and references the studies.

http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/20140402

I was just diagnosed w/ DCIS about a month ago. My yearly mammogram picked up the clusters of micro-calcifications & a stereotactic needle biopsy confirmed cancer. My lumpectomy is scheduled for Nov. 19.  I, too, am worried about getting clean margins as I don't want to go back for a 2nd surgery. I have heard numerous women on another site that had this happen to them. I don't know my stage or grade at this time. Does that come after surgery & the pathology report comes back? They've already told me I will require 6 to 7 weeks of radiation post-op.  My husband has 4 different cancers, so this was one more cancer we didn't need.....

Hi caligirl.......

I was 46 at diagnosis ...

. I was not recommended for a re-incision with a 0.4MM margin after my lumpectomy. According to my surgeon this is a clear margin and no reincision was recommended. Apparently the new margin rules ARE "If nothing is touching the inked edge ...its a clear margin" . I found a few articles...that i will attach that discuss this subject.

http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/20140402

http://thecancermd.com/2012/02/01/second-breast-cancer-surgery-required-for-positive-margins/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/health/repeat-breast-cancer-surgery-guidelines-found-unclear.html?_r=0
http://www.cancerworld.org/pdf/9184_pagina_12-16_Cutting_Edge.pdf

http://www.cap.org/apps/cap.portaL?_nfpb=true&cntvwrPtlt_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2FcontentViewer%2Fshow&_windowLabel=cntvwrPtlt&cntvwrPtlt%7BactionForm.contentReference%7D=cap_today%2F1012%2F1012b_lumpectomy_surgical.html&_state=maximized&_pageLabel=cntvwr

Hi Caigirl -

I am 49 at diagnosis with 9 mm DCIS Mixed Grades 2 and 3.

I also had close margins which were clear.  Closest was 1 mm and even though my surgeon gave me the all clear, my RO said hmmmm ... maybe larger margins would be better!  So I decided to listen to my RO and went in for re-excision.  The surgeon took out a further chunk that was 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 1.3 cm and path report came back stating:  benign breast tissue, negative for malignancy.  I'm about to start rads in 10 days ..... second surgery was a breeze - I highly recommend doing it if it will ease your mind as it has mine.

Dogs, about 99.9% of all DCIS is microcalcs, not a lump (once in a blue moon it is a lump) so the majority of DCIS is a blind surgery which is why they make us have the wires put in so the surgeon has a place to cut! But, even though I had those clear margins, with my type of rads, they needed good sized ones so they could literally pin point the rays cause I had partial breast rads only in the area of the lumpectomy so it was imperative they did it again. I think Rad Oncs like larger margins period as evidenced by so many re-excisions. But my margin was for sure too close for my type of rads.