Posts Tagged ‘discrepancy’

Surgical versus pathological excision margins—an excision too far?

Abstract  A common observation by clinicians who surgically excise skin pathology is the discrepancy between the measured size of the
surgical specimen and that of the measurements reported by the examining pathologist. This discrepancy can often be the difference
between whether, in the case of skin malignancies, the patient requires further wider excision, follow-up and, in cases where
relevant, discharge. Could it therefore mean that patients are needlessly undergoing further excisions that could be avoided
with more careful attention to specimen measurements and specimen ‘shrinkage,’ both surgically and pathologically? We measured
the length and width of skin lesions excised pre- and post-operatively and compared these measurements with the reported histopathological…