Surgical oncology Flashcards
What is the most common mistake in oncologic surgery? What is this a consequence of?
- Not being aggressive enough on the first excision
- Consequence of inadequate pre-op assessment
What 7-8 things do you need when describing a mass?
- Appearance (e.g. covered with intact skin, ulcerated)
- Density (e.g. firm or soft
- Location (where on the body AND where in regards to tissue layer or organ occupied)
- Mobility relative to adjacent structures
- Painful
- Shape
- Size
How do you identify neoplasia?
- FNA
2. If FNA is non-diagnostic, incisional biopsy ideally
What if an FNA is negative?
- It can rule neoplasia IN but cannot rule it OUT
- If you don’t see tumor cells on an FNA, that doesn’t mean they are not there
When do you do a biopsy?
- If the FNA is non-diagnostic
What is an excisional vs incisional biopsy?
- Excisional is cut the tumor out
- Incisional is remove a PIECE of the mass and submit for histopathology
Why do you often want to identify the mass via FNA or incisional biopsy before you excise?
- ) Knowing tumor type might influence further diagnostics; choice and order of surgery, radiation, and/or chemo; extent of surgery (e.g. 1 cm margins vs 3 cm margins); client’s interest in continuing based on risks, costs, prognosis)
- ) Surgery is not the best mode of treatment for some tumors and can make some worse (e.g. TVT, cutaneous histiocytoma, lymphoma, nasal adenocarcinoma, inflammatory mammary carcinoma)
- ) The first excision is often the best chance for a cure!
What happens if you excise the mass without knowing what it is?
- You can worsen the prognosis if it remains
- Inadequate surgery can select for more aggressive cells because those are the ones that were already moving out from the tumor and thus have inasive/metastatic potential
- Surgery alters vascularity, immune system, and tissue plans –> remaining cells may grow more easily, making subsequent surgeries more difficult
What can happen if you excise with dirty margins?
- If tumor remains, you may need to do another, even bigger surgery +/or chemo +/or radiation
- It also may be harder to cure at that point
What are four reasons for doing an excisional biopsy without doing an incisional biopsy first?
- Mass is too small for incisional biopsy
- Tumor type was already clearly identified with FNA
- Knowing what the tumor is will not change the treatment protocol
- Incisional biopsy is as difficult or risky as excisional (e.g. spleen or lung)
Incisional biopsy preparation
- Scrub gentle (do whether incisional or excisional; don’t want to exfoliate cells or release vasoactive substances with rough handling
How many samples to take from an incisional biopsy?
- Multiple samples
What areas to avoid with incisional biopsy?
- Avoid inflamed or necrotic areas
Hemostasis and electrocautery for incisional biopsy
- Meticulous hemostasis
- Avoid electrocautery on the biopsy itself as it distorts the histopathology
Why is it important to keep a record of incisional biopsy?
- Surgeon doing the definitive surgery needs to know where you did the biopsy
How should you plan the biopsy tract?
- So that it can be removed with desired margins at the definitive surgery
- You must assume that the biopsy tract will be contaminated with tumor cells
Handling of incisional biopsy sample
- Do not crush it
- Use atraumatic forceps
- If possible, only grasp it in one place for the entire time you are handling it
- Place small samples on a piece of paper or in tissue cassette so they don’t get lost
- Avoid putting small samples on a gauze sponge because they can get caught up in the mesh and are hard to transfer to formalin
- It’s easier to put them on a piece of paper as from a suture packet
What is tumor grading?
- Histopathology is used to ID the tumor type and to grade it, which means to determine the degree of differentiation and anaplasia
What is tumor staging?
- Assesses the size of the tumor and how much it has spread, both locally and into distant sites