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Surgery options: Is laparoscopy ever used for lumpectomy? Savi Scout?

Posted by cjketts @cjketts, Jan 21, 2023

Is laparoscopy ever used for a lumpectomy? I have a 5mm dcis tumor that I'm now scheduling for a lumpectomy. My surgeon is going to use a Savi Scout during surgery to locate the tumor. I was told the incision would be approximately 3 - 4 inches so the probe could be used and for removal of the tumor. Is this standard treatment for a tumor that is less than 1/4 inch? I am thankful for the early detection, but was wondering if there's a better way.
Thanks,

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pamelafay | @pamelafay | Mar 27, 2023
In reply to @colleenyoung "@pamelafay, did you have to have the Savi Scout removed? How was the pain resolved?" + (show)
@colleenyoung

@pamelafay, did you have to have the Savi Scout removed? How was the pain resolved?

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I had my surgery 2 days after it was placed and they removed it at that time. The pain subsided next day. I never even got a chance to ask if what I felt was normal as there was so much going on that day!

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healinhand | @healinhand | Mar 30, 2023
In reply to @cjketts "I had my lumpectomy on Jan. 30, 2023, and the incision seems quite large considering they..." + (show)
@cjketts

I had my lumpectomy on Jan. 30, 2023, and the incision seems quite large considering they were looking for a 5mm tumor. I’m guessing that tumor size has nothing to do with incision size. The good news is I received my pathology report yesterday, Feb. 1 2023, and the margins are clear with dcis being 8mm from the closest margin.
Another result that has me puzzled is that the tumor size was measured at 2mm in the pathology report and not 5mm from the mammogram. Is this normal? For the previous 6 months I had been trying active surveillance while taking anastrozole for high estrogen. My mammogram in Dec. 2022, showed that my tumor had increased from 4mm to 5mm which convinced me to do the lumpectomy. Had I been told it was 2mm, I would still be doing the active surveillance.
I’m thankful that the dcis is gone, but this has been a really difficult and challenging time with all of the unknowns. My surgeon now wants me to discuss radiation therapy, even though I’ve had the test that says I’m at low risk! When questioning the surgeon, her response was "That's just the way dcis is handled."

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MRI’s are notorious for over estimating the size. We had the same problem. I order the images from my wife’s mri. I have a very high end graphics computer. Once I started remeasuring, I found that their measured size was 20% larger than mine. I took screenshots and sent them to the radiologist. They changed the report.

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