Shave biopsy
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Shave biopsy

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Shave biopsy

  • Post
    • July 13, 2015 at 9:47 pm
    CC19
    Participant

    Hello…I'm new at this so please bear with me.  I had a shave biopsy done at MSKCC on 6/1/15.  It came back melanoma with margins exceeding biopsy.  The pathology report was very brief and did not contain any other useful information.  I have an appointment on 7/15/15 with a surgeon to discuss path report.  And they have already scheduled my WLE  at the end July.  My question is……can they tell from a shave biopsy that the melanoma is a melanoma in situ ( because a shave biopsy is not deep) or will they biopsy the WLE as well to tell the depth of the melanoma?? 

    Thanks 🙂 

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  • Replies
      • July 13, 2015 at 9:58 pm
      Janner
      Participant

      Because of the shave, you will never know the exact depth.  They will certainly look at the WLE and report any "residual depth".  Typically, even a shave biopsy goes deeper than the epidermis so if it were just melanoma in situ, you most likely would have had clean deep margins.  Just so you understand, they slice and dice the biopsy to get the original diagnosis.  Then they get the WLE tissue and slice and dice it as well.  You can't really "add" what you see in the WLE depth to what was seen in the biopsy because there is no way to line up the lesions.  You don't know what piece of tissue from the biopsy goes with the WLE.  So your lesion will be "at least XX deep" whatever was the reported depth on the biopsy.

      • July 13, 2015 at 9:58 pm
      Janner
      Participant

      Because of the shave, you will never know the exact depth.  They will certainly look at the WLE and report any "residual depth".  Typically, even a shave biopsy goes deeper than the epidermis so if it were just melanoma in situ, you most likely would have had clean deep margins.  Just so you understand, they slice and dice the biopsy to get the original diagnosis.  Then they get the WLE tissue and slice and dice it as well.  You can't really "add" what you see in the WLE depth to what was seen in the biopsy because there is no way to line up the lesions.  You don't know what piece of tissue from the biopsy goes with the WLE.  So your lesion will be "at least XX deep" whatever was the reported depth on the biopsy.

      • July 13, 2015 at 9:58 pm
      Janner
      Participant

      Because of the shave, you will never know the exact depth.  They will certainly look at the WLE and report any "residual depth".  Typically, even a shave biopsy goes deeper than the epidermis so if it were just melanoma in situ, you most likely would have had clean deep margins.  Just so you understand, they slice and dice the biopsy to get the original diagnosis.  Then they get the WLE tissue and slice and dice it as well.  You can't really "add" what you see in the WLE depth to what was seen in the biopsy because there is no way to line up the lesions.  You don't know what piece of tissue from the biopsy goes with the WLE.  So your lesion will be "at least XX deep" whatever was the reported depth on the biopsy.

        • July 13, 2015 at 10:18 pm
        CC19
        Participant

        Thanks!! 

        My path report states – 

        Diagnosis

        1. Skin, left extensor forearm; 1.5 cm; shave extension removal:

        – melanoma, extending to side margins

         

        my understanding is the 1.5 cm (15mm) is the width of the excision and not the depth, since it was a shave biopsy…

        • July 13, 2015 at 10:18 pm
        CC19
        Participant

        Thanks!! 

        My path report states – 

        Diagnosis

        1. Skin, left extensor forearm; 1.5 cm; shave extension removal:

        – melanoma, extending to side margins

         

        my understanding is the 1.5 cm (15mm) is the width of the excision and not the depth, since it was a shave biopsy…

        • July 13, 2015 at 10:18 pm
        CC19
        Participant

        Thanks!! 

        My path report states – 

        Diagnosis

        1. Skin, left extensor forearm; 1.5 cm; shave extension removal:

        – melanoma, extending to side margins

         

        my understanding is the 1.5 cm (15mm) is the width of the excision and not the depth, since it was a shave biopsy…

        • July 13, 2015 at 11:42 pm
        Janner
        Participant

        It only says the side margins are involved, not the deep margins.  That's good.  That's one reason why shave biopsies aren't great for staging melanoma because,they can slice thru a lesion. The 1.5 cm is ambiguous in this context but probably does mean excision size.  Usually you get LxWXD.  I can't believe mskcc would generate a report as minimal as this.  This is atrocious.  I'd ask the surgeon for the full report.

        • July 14, 2015 at 1:06 am
        CC19
        Participant

        Yes, I was quite suprised as to the details of the report myself.  My appointment will give me more details, hopefully.  MSKCC has been great… I was there at my sisters appointment for a follow up on her melamoma in situ and her doctor looked at my arm and told me to schedule a biopsy.  Thanks for all your input Janner, I'm learning about patience and perseverance.

        • July 14, 2015 at 1:06 am
        CC19
        Participant

        Yes, I was quite suprised as to the details of the report myself.  My appointment will give me more details, hopefully.  MSKCC has been great… I was there at my sisters appointment for a follow up on her melamoma in situ and her doctor looked at my arm and told me to schedule a biopsy.  Thanks for all your input Janner, I'm learning about patience and perseverance.

        • July 14, 2015 at 1:06 am
        CC19
        Participant

        Yes, I was quite suprised as to the details of the report myself.  My appointment will give me more details, hopefully.  MSKCC has been great… I was there at my sisters appointment for a follow up on her melamoma in situ and her doctor looked at my arm and told me to schedule a biopsy.  Thanks for all your input Janner, I'm learning about patience and perseverance.

        • July 13, 2015 at 11:42 pm
        Janner
        Participant

        It only says the side margins are involved, not the deep margins.  That's good.  That's one reason why shave biopsies aren't great for staging melanoma because,they can slice thru a lesion. The 1.5 cm is ambiguous in this context but probably does mean excision size.  Usually you get LxWXD.  I can't believe mskcc would generate a report as minimal as this.  This is atrocious.  I'd ask the surgeon for the full report.

        • July 13, 2015 at 11:42 pm
        Janner
        Participant

        It only says the side margins are involved, not the deep margins.  That's good.  That's one reason why shave biopsies aren't great for staging melanoma because,they can slice thru a lesion. The 1.5 cm is ambiguous in this context but probably does mean excision size.  Usually you get LxWXD.  I can't believe mskcc would generate a report as minimal as this.  This is atrocious.  I'd ask the surgeon for the full report.

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