Morphological characteristics of residual tumor of breast

Objective: to evaluate the morphological characteristics of a residual tumor of breast.

Materials and methods. A histological examination of breast tumor biopsy samples before treatment (core-biopsy) and surgical material after neoadjuvant therapy was conducted in 113 breast cancer patients receiving Taxane containing regimens. The samples were compared case-by-case to biopsy, residual tumor and axillar lymph node metastasis. 

Results. The degree of grading of the primary breast tumor was estimated using the Nottingham system and the significance of changes in the components of Grade residual tumor, the morphological characteristics of the “tumor bed” and the percentage of achievement of the pathologic complete response (pCR). Primary tumor regression was detected in 20.4% (n=23) cases, however, 2 cases (21.7%) were not attributed to pCR due to the presence of metastases in regional lymph nodes, thus, pCR was achieved in 18.6% (n=21). When evaluating a residual tumor, a statistically significant change in the degree of malignancy (Grade) was not detected (p=0.593), however, a statistically significant change in the assessment of nuclear polymorphism was 46.67% (p=0.000). 

Conclusion. The anatomical criteria for determining the stage of the breast tumor coincide both in the clinical classification (cTNM) and in the pathology (pTNM), thus restoring the residual tumor after neoadjuvant treatment in accordance with the AJCC (TNM) classification approaches clearly and reliably allows to evaluate the response breast tumors in the form of a reduced stage.

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