Sarcomas of the breast: a clinicopathologic analysis of ten cases

The clinical and pathologic features of ten mammary sarcomas are discussed. Tumor size, contour, degree of cellular atypia, and mitotic activity were specifically evaluated to determine if they are important indiced of clinical behavior. Results indicate that infiltrating margins, 2-3+ stromal atypia, and eight or more mitoses per 10 HPF are characteristics of neoplasms associated with a poor prognosis. Tumor size was an unreliable criterion. A classification of breast sarcomas is presented with an appeal to avoid use of the term "stromal sarcoma" as a specific pathologic diagnosis. Since a diagnosis based upon cell of origin and correlated with the above morphologic features is fundamental to an intelligent therapeutic approach to this rare group of neoplasms, future reports dealing with this subject should include these details.