Impact of Resident and Fellow Participation on Surgical Outcomes in Breast Conserving Surgery for Invasive Breast Cancer

Trainees participation in breast cancer surgery: an assistance or a hinderance?

“…For oncologic parameters, positive margin rate was the most studied parameter. For palpable breast cancers, the trainees and consultants had comparable reported positive margin rates (1,7) which were consistent with Srour et al (6) findings. For non palpable cancers, the data was conflicting.…”

“…For operative parameters, early complication rates appeared to be similar between the trainees and consultants in studies involving breast conserving surgery and mastectomies (2,5). Operative times were however, reported to be longer for the trainees compared to the consultants (2,3,5,6), with the timings becoming shorter as the trainees progressed in their training (2). Despite the difference in operative timing between the trainees and the consultants, this timing difference did not seem to have a detrimental effect on patients' clinical outcomes.…”

“…Srour et al (6) tried to overcome some of the current studies' limitations by investigating the effect of residents and fellows participation in breast conserving surgery for invasive breast cancer on oncologic outcomes, namely positive margin rates. This study is one of the largest to date, involving 1,089 patients operated from 2005-2015 at a single tertiary care hospital.…”