RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To establish the frequency of re-excision or mastectomy in women who had breast-conserving treatment for invasive lobular mammary carcinoma. DESIGN: Retrospective. METHOD: Data on the number of patients with invasive carcinoma from 1998-2006 were obtained from the national pathology database (PALGA) and the Dutch Comprehensive Cancer Centre East. The following data on patients who had undergone breast-conserving treatment for invasive lobular carcinoma were collected from the electronic patient records: age, localization procedure with wire-localisation and tumour size. RESULTS: The frequency of re-excision or mastectomy following initial breast-conserving surgery in 123 patients with invasive lobular carcinoma was 46.3 % versus 31.5 % in 877 patients with other types of invasive carcinoma. The number of re-excisions was higher in the group with invasive non-lobular carcinoma (4.9% versus 9.2%), and the number of conversions to mastectomy was higher in the group with invasive lobular carcinoma (41.5% versus 20.1%). The age of the patient, the localisation procedure and tumour size were not significant predictors of a tumour-free surgical margin or for the necessity of re-excision. CONCLUSION: The frequency of re-excision in patients with invasive lobular carcinoma was higher than in patients with other types of breast cancer. There was no statistically significant predictor for obtaining a tumour-free surgical margin.