Cytophotometric measurements of nuclear DNA content values in human breast lesions

Quantitative measurements of nuclear DNA content values have been evaluated in cytological smears from 33 women with normal breast, fibrocystic disease, fibroadenoma and different types of breast carcinomas. The DNA amount for normal breast was found to be in the diploid region. For fibrocystic disease and fibroadenoma the cytochemical data were established to range from diploid to tetraploid regions, with peaks at 2 C and 3 C, respectively. For the different types of malignant breast lesions the quantitative DNA amounts were presented in the various regions of the histograms: from diploid to tetraploid for papillar carcinomas and metaplastic carcinomas--fusiformcellular and epidermoid types, with peaks at 2 C; from diploid to octaploid for intracanalicular carcinomas with peaks at 2 C, 4 C and 6 C. Dynamic changes in the pathway from the normal to cancer have been determined after quantitative cytochemical measurements of various benign and malignant breast lesions.