>When a biopsy report comes back saying "...locally invasive"
 
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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[Posted in FML issue 3440]