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Cytologic grading of invasive breast carcinoma. Correlation with clinicopathologic variables and predictive value of
1Department of Pathology, Affiliated Kihoku Hospital, Wakayama Medical College, Japan.
Objective:
To estimate cytologic grade and correlate it with the other known prognostic factors, such as tumor differentiation, growth fraction, estrogen receptor status and nodal status.
Study Design:
Fine needle aspirates from 104 invasive ductal carcinomas were stained by the Papanicolaou method and examined for necrosis, cellular size, nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, nuclear pleomorphism, nucleoli, chromatin granularity and density of chromatin. We established a semiquantitative scoring system based on the above features and correlated cytologic findings with clinicopathologic variables.
Results:
Histologic grade correlated positively with cytologic grade and negatively with estrogen receptor positivity. Moreover, high cytologic grade was associated with nodal metastasis and proliferative index labeling by MIB-1.
Conclusion:
This study showed that our grading system for breast cancer on fine needle aspiration cytology is feasible on a routine diagnostic basis. Cytologic grading can provide more information than usual on tumor biologic behavior.