Primary breast carcinoma: immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical evaluation of biological parameters

Fine needle aspiration biopsy is an effective procedure for the diagnosis and biological characterization of carcinoma of the breast. The authors compared the immunocytochemical expression of oestrogen receptor and progesterone receptor, Ki67 antigen and p53 protein, evaluated in pre-surgical fine needle aspirates, with the immunohistochemical results observed in the corresponding histological sections. Fine needle aspirates and paraffin embedded sections obtained from 37 patients with primary carcinoma of the breast were studied by immunocytochemistry and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Percentage agreement between values obtained with cytology and histology was 89.6% for oestrogen receptor, 76.9% for progesterone receptor, 91.3% for Ki67 and 77.7% for p53. The data reported here suggest that the evaluation of biological parameters by fine needle aspiration biopsy may be useful to decide the best medical and surgical treatment for primary breast carcinoma.