Feasibility of thymidine labelling index on fine needle aspirates from breast cancer: comparison with surgical samples.
Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) provides a suitable diagnostic tool in the management of patients with breast cancer lesions. The current study reports on tumor proliferative activity, by 3H-Thymidine Labelling Index (TLI), assessed on 59 FNA (TLI1) and 28 surgical specimens (TLI2) from the same breast cancer patients. Median TLI values from FNA and surgical material were 1.0% and 0.7%, respectively. In the 28 patients, evaluable for the comparison between TLI1 and TLI2, the association was found to be highly significant (p = 0.000). Moreover, no change in tumor proliferative activity was observed in the majority (79%) of cases when evaluated preoperatively and at surgery. This study confirms the feasibility of TLI analysis on FNA from breast cancer and provides results superimposable on those obtained in a tissue sample from the same patient.
Department of Experimental Pharmacology, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genova, Italy.
F
F
Barbieri
G
G
Parodi
T
T
Massa
M
M
Cagnoli
G
G
Barbi
A
A
Imperiale
A
A
Alama
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism*
D013936:Thymidine