Influence of surgical technique on estrogen and progesterone receptor determinations in breast cancer

The effect of surgical technique on hormone receptor values in breast cancer tissue was examined. One hundred and thirty-one women with breast cancer were divided into three groups: Group I, definitive diagnosis at frozen section and tissue taken for receptor determination; Groups II and III, diagnosis made by aspiration biopsy cytology, with tissue obtained from modified radical mastectomy in Group II and tissue obtained from mastectomy performed separately, prior to axillary lymph node dissection, in Group III. The rates of estrogen and progesterone receptor positivity, and the mean levels of receptor, did not differ significantly among the three groups. Thus tumor tissue from a mastectomy specimen can be reliably used for hormone receptor determinations, if the tumor tissue is kept cold and rapidly frozen for storage. Women whose cancer has been diagnosed by aspiration biopsy cytology need not undergo an additional open biopsy solely to obtain tissue for receptor determinations.