Quantitative analysis of the nuclear area variation in benign and malignant breast cytology specimens

The diagnostic value of the nuclear size for discriminating between benign and malignant breast lesions was studied by karyometric analysis of the nuclear area in May-Grünwald-Giemsa-stained imprints from 173 benign and 103 malignant breast lesions. The mean nuclear area, the maximum nuclear area and the percentage of nuclei larger than 200 sq micrometer discriminated between about 60% of the breast carcinomas and 95% of the benign lesions. The coefficient of variation had considerably less discriminatory power and also showed the lowest correlation with the mean nuclear area. A weak negative correlation was found between the mean nuclear area and the age of the patients with benign lesions. Carcinomas with small nuclei (area less than 110 sq micrometer) were found more frequently in patients with negative lymph nodes than in patients with positive nodes. Additional parameters for nuclear shape and texture may lead to a further objectification of nuclear pleomorphism in breast cytology specimens.