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All TopicsForum: Surgery - Before, During, and After → Topic: Removing too much?

Topic: Removing too much?

Forum: Surgery - Before, During, and After — Surgical options and helpful tips for recovery and side effects.

Posted on: Dec 15, 2007 07:39 AM, edited Dec 15, 2007 07:39 AM by jenniferalice

jenniferalice wrote:

My core biopsy shows a 6mm in situ and a 1.2 mm IDC. No one case feel the tumor. My surgeon wants to remove a tangerine to baseball sized amount of breast tissue. Is this a normal recommendation?

If I had a 5 cm tumor they could feel would they remove as much?

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Dec 15, 2007 08:05 AM roseg wrote:

I've heard that a golf-ball sized amount is about the minimum that will be removed. Getting clear margins on invasive cancer is very important to your future well being.

A tangerine/baseball is a bit bigger than a golf-ball, but your surgeon knows better how those bad bits of tissue are situated.

I think that sounds fairly reasonable. Getting a clear margin of tissue "in the round" tends to make the amounts removed bigger than you'd think they'd be. 

Rose
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Dec 16, 2007 05:57 AM ravdeb wrote:

I'm not very good with ball sizes, but when they explained to me how much tissue they were taking out I was shocked at the size. He had some big pencil box on the table and said this was what they would be taking out. We figured it was the size of my husband's fist and that is a lot..bigger than a golf ball, that's for sure. My surgeon said he's not a ps but he'd move tissues around and I will be fine. That breast appears larger now!