[Verse 1]
Under glass the cells confess their manners,
Well-behaved or wild and running loose,
Pathologist reads the architecture,
Grade's the mugshot, not the final truth.
Well, moderate, or poorly differentiated,
Three words that tell you how the tumor cheats,
But grade's a snapshot, stage writes the whole chapter,
Stage is the one that calls the final feats.
[Chorus]
R-zero clean, the border's a stranger to the tumor,
R-one's a whisper hiding in the rim,
R-two you'd spot it with your naked eyes, no rumor,
Zero one two, learn the margin hymn.
Grade tells the manners, stage tells the mileage,
Remember the difference, don't let it blur,
Clean edge or caught edge, that's the pathology language,
Sing the margin code till you're sure.
[Verse 2]
Spindle cells hiding in the belly's lining,
CD117 and DOG1 light the GIST,
Melanoma's caught by S-one-hundred shining,
SOX10, HMB-45 close the fist.
Breast cells whisper through ER and PR,
HER2 decides which therapy takes aim,
TTF-1 points to lung or to thyroid,
CK7, CK20 trace the stranger to its name.
[Chorus]
R-zero clean, the border's a stranger to the tumor,
R-one's a whisper hiding in the rim,
R-two you'd spot it with your naked eyes, no rumor,
Zero one two, learn the margin hymn.
Grade tells the manners, stage tells the mileage,
Remember the difference, don't let it blur,
Clean edge or caught edge, that's the pathology language,
Sing the margin code till you're sure.
[Verse 3]
Frozen section, twenty minutes ticking,
Surgeon waiting with the wound still wide,
Quick-frozen slice gives a fast-food verdict,
Good for margins, good for nodes inside.
But ask it to split adenoma from carcinoma
In follicular tissue, it'll shrug and stall,
Capsule invasion needs the slow permanent stain,
Patience beats the frozen gamble after all.
[Bridge]
Every chapter of the body, head to pelvis,
Margins show up like a stubborn houseguest,
R0, R1, R2, the same three sentries,
Guarding every surgeon's final test.
[Chorus]
R-zero clean, the border's a stranger to the tumor,
R-one's a whisper hiding in the rim,
R-two you'd spot it with your naked eyes, no rumor,
Zero one two, learn the margin hymn.
Grade tells the manners, stage tells the mileage,
Remember the difference, don't let it blur,
Clean edge or caught edge, that's the pathology language,
Sing the margin code till you're sure.
[Outro]
Glass slide, purple stain, the story's written,
Grade and margin, stains that name the foe,
Read the edges close before you're smitten,
Pathology's the compass surgeons know.