Determining the degree of malignancy of individual cases of mammary carcinoma on the basis of clinical, morphological and biochemical parameters.

The histological and histochemical findings and the clinical course of 160 cases of breast cancer were compared with the biochemical values of the content and pattern of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) in the tumour tissue. For this purpose the cases were divided into 4 groups of increasing malignancy of the tumours, based on the morphological data and the clinical course after radical mastectomy (4-9 years follow-up). Samples of tumour tissue were examined biochemically-analytically for their total content of glycosaminoglycans and for their mg/g values of hyaluronic acid (H), chondroitin-4- and chondroitin-6-sulphates (CA + CC), dermatan sulphate (CB), heparan sulphate (HpS) and component (K).