Nuclear comparative morphometric study between DCIS and normal resting mammary gland tissue

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the malignant epithelial cell proliferation that affect only ducts, including lobular, without basement membrane interruption. Benign or malignant cell phenotype is defined by nuclear appearance. Morphometric analysis could provide quantitative information about nuclear profile in several lesions. In this study, we assess nuclear morphometric features of mammary epithelial cells in DCIS compared to normal resting mammary gland tissue. For morphological evaluation, we included two groups of mammary gland tissue. The first group comprised breast tissue from 20 women surgically treated and histopathologically confirmed with DCIS. The second control group was represented by normal resting mammary tissue obtained from another 20 women surgically treated for fibroadenoma. Evaluated morphometric parameters were: nuclear area (NA), nuclear perimeter (P), maximum diameter (Dmax), minimum diameter (Dmin), elongation factor (E). Morphometric assessment of DCIS nuclei showed significant higher values than normal resting breast tissue. Morphometric analysis gave information about tumor aggressiveness, invasion tendency and disease prognostic.