Histopathological features of rapidly progressing breast carcinoma in Tunisia: a study of 94 cases

The histological features of 94 cases of carcinoma of the breast seen in Tunisia were recorded and subsequently correlated with the clinical classification of the patients in terms of poussée évolutive (PEV) categories. Histological features analyzed in the breast tissues and skin included tumor type, nuclear grade, number of mitoses, involvement of the dermis, cutaneous inflammatory infiltrate and edema. Twenty-eight percent of the cases in which the skin was examined showed tumor emboli in the lymphatics of the dermis. The frequency of cutaneous permeation correlated with the PEV categories. The percentage of cases with nuclear grade 3 was higher for the group with rapid progression of the disease (PEV 1,2,3) than for the cases belonging to the PEV-0 category (90% versus 64.2%). The present study demonstrates that a large proportion of breast carcinoma patients in Tunisia suffer from "inflammatory carcinoma of the breast".