From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-06-04 22:24:00 UTC
Subject: Re: biopsy
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., poof242@a... wrote:
> When a biopsy report comes back saying "...locally invasive", I'm
assuming
> this means that chances for spreading are small? Chances for
recurrence are
> not in that snippet of statement?
Locally invasive means that the tumor tends to grow into the
surrounding tissue. This is evidence of a low-grade malignancy.
Benign tumors tend to expand, compressing adjacent tissues, but not
fingering into them. At surgery, benign tumors are easily removed.
It doesn't say anything about the possibility of metastasis, or
spread via the blood or lymph to distant organs.
The chance of recurrence is not really addressed by the term locally
invasive. The chance of recurrence is largely based on the adequacy
of excision, i.e., how clean the margins of the biopsy are.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
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