title: Medullary carcinoma of the breast, prognostic importance of characteristic histopathological features evaluated in a multivariate Cox analysis.
abstract: In this study of 136 breast cancers with medullary features (MC), registered in the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) from 1982 to 1987, we confirmed the prognostic importance of a new definition of medullary carcinoma of the breast (MC newdef) which was recently proposed by us, deduced from a previous study of a corresponding tumour material (DBCG 77-82). However, the individual histological criteria did not have the same prognostic importance as in our previous study, although prognostic trends were the same. To further improve and validate the diagnostic criteria, we combined the two populations and performed a multivariate Cox regression analysis. In the final Cox model, four histological parameters retained positive prognostic importance: (1) predominantly syncytial growth pattern, (2) no tubular component, (3) diffuse stromal infiltration with mononuclear cells and (4) sparse necrosis. We propose that these criteria are emphasized in the histological diagnosis of medullary carcinoma of the breast.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology R, Herlev Hospital/University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holck
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schiødt
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zedeler
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Mouridsen
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D002455:Cell Division; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000473:pathology; D009336:Necrosis; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis