Estrogen receptors in human breast cancer in Mexican patients

ER positive (+), negative (-), percentages in 86 malignant neoplasias and 27 benign lesions of the mammary gland as well as in 24 mammary gland tissue samples obtained from neighbouring areas were 69, 52 and 0 per cent respectively. Similar values have been published in other western countries. No statistically significant differences were found when comparing ER + values obtained in malignant neoplasias with those from benign lesions, nor were there differences between values obtained in pre and post menopausal patients; in spite of this fact, when grouping patients in decades according to age, significant differences are observed in ER + values between the third and sixth decades of life as well as between the fourth and the sixth (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05 respectively). No significant variances were found in ER + percentages or in its values among the different histological types of malignant neoplasias; however the highest ER + percentage was found in the combination of scirrhous histological type and post menopause (95 per cent). Results were compared with those published by other authors.