Question about Margins
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Question about Margins

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Question about Margins

  • Post
    • December 21, 2018 at 5:51 pm
    jmp_0513
    Participant

      Hi all! 

      Looking for some guidance! The derm has said my husband's path report looks good, and until they go in for the WLE & SLNB, they of course can't be 100% sure, but they feel confident in the resection of the  melanoma so far. 

      I think we've deciphered most of the pathology report, but I forgot to ask the doctor what these statements from the report mean. Any ideas on the 2 items below? 

      "Tumor extends to within 2.7 mm of the nearest peripheral margin"

      "In the deep dermis, a keratin granuloma was noted."

      THANK YOU! Happy Holidays all!

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    • Replies
        • December 21, 2018 at 7:10 pm
        Janner
        Participant

          When you do the WLE, you want to have 1cm margins or 2cm margins (depends on the depth of the primary).  So the biopsy report is saying they don't see any melanoma within 2.7mm of the edge of the biopsy.  In theory, 1cm margins would mean the WLE could use ~8mm instead of 1cm and meet the 1cm requirements.  Essesntially this explains that all the melanoma appeared to be removed in the biopsy sample with extra margins (albeit not wide enough to just move on).

          As for the keratin granuloma, not related to the melanoma.  It's a irritated or ruptured cyst.

            • December 21, 2018 at 8:37 pm
            jmp_0513
            Participant

              Thank you for the info! 

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