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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Single-Port Robotic-assisted Transaxillary Breast-conserving Surgery: A Prospective, Single-arm, Non-randomized Phase IIa Clinical Trial
Published on: August 19, 2025
MRI predictors of tumor-positive margins after breast-conserving surgery
Manisha Bahl1, Jay A Baker1, Emily N Kinsey2
1Duke University Medical Center, Department of Radiology, DUMC Box 3808, Durham, NC 27710, United States of America.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to identify predictors of tumor-positive surgical margins after breast-conserving surgery on dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI.
Materials And Methods:
We conducted a retrospective study of consecutive women who underwent DCE MRI before breast-conserving surgery from 2005 to 2014. Patient demographics, indication for surgery, MRI findings, biopsy pathology results, and surgical outcomes were reviewed. The unpaired t-test and chi-square test were used to compare the positive and negative margins groups.
Results:
554 women (mean age, 56; range, 26-90) underwent DCE MRI before 575 breast-conserving surgeries for invasive carcinoma (n = 473) or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (n = 102). Positive margins requiring re-excision occurred in 19.7% (93/473) of surgeries for invasive carcinoma and 31.4% (32/102) of surgeries for DCIS. For invasive carcinoma surgeries, positive margins were more common when MRI demonstrated the finding of non-mass enhancement (NME) rather than the finding of enhancing mass (33.8% [22/65] versus 16.9% [61/360], p < 0.01). Tumor size on MRI was significantly larger in the positive margins group (2.5 cm versus 1.9 cm, p < 0.001). Positive margins were more common with invasive lobular rather than invasive ductal histology at core biopsy (38.3% [18/47] versus 16.0% [56/350], p < 0.001). For DCIS surgeries, there were no significant differences in positive margin rates related to MRI features.
Conclusion:
For invasive carcinoma surgeries, positive margins are associated with NME on MRI, larger tumor size on MRI, and lobular histology at core biopsy. These findings may be used to predict which patients are at risk for positive margins after breast-conserving surgery.
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