Prognostic significance of some pathologic factors in breast carcinoma

The prognostic significance of several pathologic factors was analysed in a series of 221 cases of breast carcinoma consecutively and primarily treated in a department of surgery. It was found that the outcome of patients could be fairly well outlined in routine practice using the axillary nodal involvement (absence or presence of metastases and number of "positive" nodes), tumor size as measured in surgical specimens and histopathologic evaluation. It was also found that the predictive value of tumor grading is clearly enhanced when it is used in combination with the histological classification. The histological pattern and sinus histiocytosis of regional lymph nodes, as well as the lymphoid infiltration of the tumors, were also found to have some prognostic importance. The presence of vascular invasion in primary tumors of patients with nodal metastases as well as the finding of extranodal extension did not provides additional prognostic information.