title: Cytologic features of proliferative breast disease: a study designed to minimize sampling error.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Assessment of cytologic features that allow accurate classification of proliferative breast disease has been hampered by sampling errors when fine-needle aspirations have been compared with their corresponding histologic sections.
  
  
  METHODS
  To allow for optimal cytohistologic correlation, 2 smears (1 hematoxylin and eosin-stained and 1 Diff-Quik-stained) were prepared from each of 98 breast biopsies without mass lesions and compared with the corresponding histologic sections of the scraped area. Each smear was reviewed in a blinded fashion and assessed for cellularity, background elements, cytoarchitectural features of cell groups, and nuclear features by 2 reviewers. Smears were then classified as nonproliferative breast disease (NPBD), proliferative breast disease without atypia (PBD) or with atypia (PBDA), or DCIS, based on review of the corresponding histologic sections.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When comparing NPBD/PBD (n = 86) with PBDA/DCIS (n = 12), smears from PBDA/DCIS were significantly (by the Fisher exact test or Wilcoxon rank sum P values with adjustment for multiple comparisons) more likely to be cellular; contain single cells and necrosis; exhibit nuclear overlap and cytoplasmic vacuoles; have large nuclei, macronucleoli, pleomorphism, clumped chromatin, and hyperchromasia; and were less likely to have complex cell groups, monolayers, swirling, cohesion, and myoepithelial cells in epithelial sheets and the smear background. When NPBD (n = 53) and PBD (n = 33) were similarly compared, smears from PBD were more likely to exhibit larger and more complex cell groups, but they were otherwise similar to smears from NPBD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are many cytologic features that will allow a distinction of NPBD/PBD from PBDA/DCIS, but relatively few that can aid in separating NPBD from PBD.
authors.affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35233, USA.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Tabbara
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Poprocky
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sidawy
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D001941:Breast Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric