Twenty percent (told this statistic by my breast surgeon) of all woman will need to bo back for a second procedure, as their margins are not clear; meaning they did not remove tissue, to have a margin of tissue without cancer cells present. I was one of the 20 percent, and had a second procedure for more tissue removal. It was very close, for me, and she almost didn't do the second procedure, but, talking out loud to herself, said, no, they would not sign off on it, and then said, I needed to have another procedure. The problem, and we didn't know at the time of the first surgery, is that there is no way to know what is healthy tissue, and what tissue has cancer. They use the results of the mammogram to remove the tissue with the cancer cells, but while doing the work, they cannot tell if they "got it all". It takes a lab analysis to review the tissue sample to make the determination. Hope this helps.

My surgeon immediately sent what he cut out to pathologist while I was on the table. He had to take another "scoop" because margin wasn't clear. Second time was a success.

My surgeon sent to lab, while I was in surgery. I had lymph nodes removed to which 4 had cancer. No second surgery needed as he achieved clear lines.