Re-excision

Re-excision lumpectomy—also called simply re-excision—involves going back into the area where you have had either a lumpectomy or excisional biopsy (the two terms refer to the same procedure) and taking out the tissue that used to surround your tumor. Your surgeon will do a re-excision if the margins of resection show cancer cells close to the edge of the tissue removed during the first surgery. It is important to remove a margin or zone of cancer-free tissue completely surrounding the original tumor, to try to be sure that all the cancer is gone. You may hear your surgeon refer to this as "clearing the margins."