The effect of chemotherapy on the morphology of human breast carcinoma

Between biopsy diagnosis and mastectomy 16 patients with carcinoma of the breast received at least three courses of chemotherapy. When the biopsies and the tumour in the mastectomy specimens were compared, an increase in nuclear size, pleomorphism, vacuolation/chromatin clumping and nucleolar prominence were seen in 14 cases. Cytoplasmic changes included accumulation of lipid. There was no correlation between these morphological changes and the disease-free survival period and they could not be used to predict response to chemotherapy.