Histopathologic evidence of tumor regression in the axillary lymph nodes of patients treated with preoperative chemotherapy correlates with breast cancer outcome.

Background: The benefits of primary tumor downstaging and assessment of chemoresponsiveness have resulted in expanded applications for induction chemotherapy. However, the pathologic evaluation and prognostic significance of response in preoperatively treated lymph nodes have not been defined.

Methods: The axillary lymph nodes of 71 patients with locally advanced breast cancer treated with induction chemotherapy were evaluated for histological evidence of tumor regression as defined by the presence of nodal fibrosis, mucin pools, or aggregates of foamy histiocytes.

Histopathologic analysis of atypical lesions in image-guided core breast biopsies.

Appropriate follow-up of patients with needle core breast biopsies (NCBB) showing atypical hyperplasia remains unclear because previous studies show that subsequent open biopsies in variable proportions of these patients reveal ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or even invasive carcinoma, indicating significant sampling artifact. NCBB with diagnoses of atypia were morphologically classified into groups as follows: I, ALH (n = 24); II, ADH with minimal cytologic atypism (n = 90); III, atypia, other (9 columnar, 2 apocrine, 11 atypical papillary); IV, severe ADH/borderline DCIS (n = 31). Mammographic and histologic features, including the number of foci of atypia in the NCBB and the calcification span, were then correlated with presence of DCIS or invasive tumor in subsequent open excisions.

Clinicopathologic analysis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in African Americans and Caucasians.

Introduction: African Americans have a higher incidence of pancreatic adenocarcinoma than do Caucasians for unknown reasons. Whether other clinicopathologic differences exist between these two groups is not known. This study was undertaken to compare the clinical, pathologic, and biologic findings for a group of patients with a histologic diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma of the usual type in a single institution.

Fas and Fas ligand expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Introduction: Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) mediate apoptosis of tumor cells in immune surveillance, and expression of FasL by tumors may mediate their counterattack on cytotoxic lymphocytes. Both proteins are expressed in most if not all pancreatic carcinoma cell lines, but their study in primary human tumors has been limited.

Aim: We performed Fas and FasL immunohistochemical staining on 81 primary pancreaticobiliary or ampullary ductal adenocarcinomas of patients in our institutional database to determine the extent and strength of staining.

Histologic and radiographic analysis of ductal carcinoma in situ diagnosed using stereotactic incisional core breast biopsy.

Background: Stereotactic incisional core breast biopsy (SCBB) is a highly specific technique for diagnosing ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in patients with suspicious mammographic microcalcifications. However, its sensitivity for excluding the presence of coexisting occult invasive disease in this setting is not fully established.

Design: We correlated SCBB findings to subsequent lumpectomy/mastectomy (lx/mx) results in 122 cases of DCIS.

Clinicopathologic Analysis of Fas, Fas Ligand, and Other Biomarkers in Locally Advanced Breast Carcinoma.

Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) mediate T-lymphocyte cytotoxicity and may also induce physiologic apoptosis in breast epithelium associated with menstruation and cessation of lactation. Altered expression may thus be associated with breast carcinoma progression, chemotherapy response, or outcome. We performed a clinicopathologic analysis of immunohistochemical staining for Fas and FasL, as well as bax, bcl-2, glutathione-s-transferase, HER-2 (c-erbB-2), Ki67, P-glycoprotein, p53, and hormone receptors in pretreatment breast biopsies from 34 patients with locally advanced or limited stage IV breast carcinoma who received preoperative (neoadjuvant, primary) chemotherapy followed by lumpectomy or mastectomy.