Clinical Outcome of Breast Conservation Surgery in Early Breast Cancer Patients: A Prospective Interventional Study

Introduction: Breast conservation surgery (BCS) has gained acceptance among the surgeons for the management of young patients with early breast cancer. Aim: To study the outcomes of breast conservation surgery in early breast cancer patients at a tertiary care centre in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, India. Materials and Methods: This prospective interventional study included 40 patients in the age group of 20-65 years with stage I or stage II breast cancer was carried out in Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad, India. Once staging workup was done, all patients were evaluated for suitability of BCS. Surgical treatment consisted of wide local excision and axillary dissection with gross tumour surgical margin of 2 cm. Surgical morbidity like prolonged seroma formation, surgical site infection, haematoma, lymphoedema was assessed postoperatively. Pathological assessment included primary tumour size, histological type, margin status. Radiotherapy was given to all patients. Chemotherapy was used where indicated with the appropriate regimen. All patients were followed up at three months, six months and 12 months. Cosmetic outcome was assessed by Harris four point Likert Scale. Descriptive statistics was used and results were expressed in terms of frequency and percentages. Results: In this study; 28 (70%) patients had no postoperative wound complications. About 4 (10%) had surgical site infection, and 8 (20%) had prolonged seroma formation. Out of 40 patients, 37 (92.5%) patients postoperatively had all the margins free from the disease on histopathology, 2 (5%) had single margin positive which required revision surgery, and 1 (2.5%) had all the margins positive; hence Modified Radical Mastectomy (MRM) was performed. The cosmetic outcome was good to excellent in 34 (85%) cases. Conclusion: Breast conserving surgery had a good cosmetic outcome. Most patients had disease free margins.