title: Medullary carcinoma of the breast. A multicenter study of its diagnostic consistency.
abstract: Nine pathologists from different institutions reviewed in a double-blind study 16 breast tumors previously indexed as typical medullary carcinoma, atypical medullary carcinoma, or infiltrative ductal carcinoma. A set of 16 slides was circulated two times among the nine pathologists. The diagnoses of typical and atypical medullary carcinomas were based on a definition given by Ridolfi et al. The interobserver and intraobserver agreement was low, with a kappa value of less than .50. The only histological criterion that had more than 50% agreement was the presence or absence of an in situ component in the tumor, assuming that the disagreement of one pathologist is accepted. This study is a snapshot of the problems encountered in the diagnosis of typical medullary carcinoma in a routine context and it shows high levels of variations in diagnostic consistency.
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean-Godinot, Reims, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rigaud
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Theobald
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Noël
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Badreddine
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barlier
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delobelle
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jacquemier
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Maisongrosse
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peffault de Latour
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation