[Histopathological findings in autopsy cases of recurrent breast cancer]

In case of breast cancer subjected to postmortem examinations, histopathological changes were observed, and the effects of treatment were analyzed. Surgically obtained specimens of 36 cases of breast cancer could be compared with their postmortem specimens: in 14 cases (38.9%), tumor cells tended to be lowly differentiated, while the cells were unchanged in 22 (61.1%). There were no cases of differentiated tumor cells. Lowly differentiated cells were common in patients resistant to treatment who died shortly. Stromal tissues were sclerotic in eight cases (22.2%), medullated in three (8.3%), and unchanged in 25 (69.4%). Long-surviving cases tended to have the involvement of sclerosis.