Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 22, 2026
Single-Port Robotic-assisted Transaxillary Breast-conserving Surgery: A Prospective, Single-arm, Non-randomized Phase IIa Clinical Trial
Published on: August 19, 2025
Radioactive seed localization for breast conservation surgery: Low positive margin rate with no learning curve
Cristine S Velazco1, Nabil Wasif1, Barbara A Pockaj1
1Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Background:
Radioactive seed localization (RSL) is an alternative to wire localization. We compared the rate of positive margins for evidence of a learning curve in implementing RSL.
Methods:
A retrospective review of RSL by three surgeons at a single institution from 2002 to 2016. Positive margins were defined as ink on tumor.
Results:
Surgeon experience with RSL for ranged from 142 to >500 cases. The positive margin rate among the first 100 of each surgeons' experience (n = 300) was 2.3% and the rate during the most recent up to 100 cases after experience with at least 100 RSL procedures (n = 242) was 4.1% (p = 0.32). Individual surgeon's positive margin rates ranged from 2 to 5% in the early experience and 2-7% in the later experience (p = NS).
Conclusions:
RSL for breast conservation surgery has a low rate of positive margins even early in a surgeon's experience. Implementation of RSL can be done with no evidence of a learning curve.
