surgical clips

a week last wednesday i wet for a chest xray at a private hospitl and found out for the first time, that i have 7 surigal clips in my right breast, after i had my breast cancer lumpechtomy in 2011, i did not know that i had clips in my breast until then, why are they there, and should they be still there ?

Hi

 

The surgeon puts the clips in after the excision, to mark the area where the tissue was removed. This is in case they need to do further surgery if they don’t obtain clear margins first time round. And I suppose its useful for scans etc so that they can see where the original area of cancer had been. It is normal for them to be left in.

 

Mary

Thank you for your help Mary, that makes sense , it was just a shock to find out that they were there , no one told me they would be, but hey ho all s okay, thank you 

Julie 

I had lumpectomy in April and have driven myself mad feeling two lumps near scar only to be told at ct scan for radio therapy that it is two clips that the surgeon leaves as markers. Definitley wish I had known so that i wouldn’t have worried so much.