Cavity margins examination in breast-conserving therapy

There is a good consensus that the pathologic lumpectomy margin status is the most important factor to determine the risk of local recurrence of carcinoma after breast-conserving therapy. However, there is no consensus regarding the definition of a complete excision or an adequate margin and the reported rates of repeat surgery for positive margins range from 10 to 57%. Therefore, an alternative technique of margin evaluation, called cavity shaving or cavity margin shaving has been proposed and applied by some surgical teams in order to reduce the need for re-excisions and to detect multifocality. We aim to describe in this review how to handle, analyse and report breast lumpectomy specimens with associated cavity margins and to discuss the potential advantages and drawbacks of this method.