2015/12/30 by Jarrod D. Predina, Jane Keating, Neil Patel +3
Medicine · #Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis #Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment #Lung Cancer Treatments and Mutations
paper · doi:10.1002/jso.24130
crossref issued 2015/12/30 · crossref published 2015/12/30 · crossref published-online 2015/12/30 · openalex publication_date 2015/12/30 · crossref created 2015/12/31 · crossref published-print 2016/03/01 · crossref deposited 2023/09/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Positive margins following pulmonary resection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) occur in approximately 5-15% of patients undergoing a curative procedure. The presence of positive margins negatively impacts long-term outcomes by setting the stage for local and potentially distant disease recurrence. Despite major clinical ramifications, there are very few dedicated reports that examine the implications of positive margins following surgery for NSCLC. Furthermore, published series are typically retrospective studies from single institutions. In this review we analyze published data with special consideration of four pertinent questions: (i) what are the long term outcomes of a positive margin following pulmonary resection?, (ii) is intraoperative margin assessment by frozen section reliable?, (iii) what is the optimal distance of the tumor margin to the surgical margin?, and (iv) should adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy be used in the setting of a positive surgical margin?