NUCLEOLAR VOLUME IN BREAST CARCINOMAS

The prognostic value of histopathological typing of breast carcinomas is relatively good. The determination of cell size has been a common a nd useful parameter in the diagnosis of various malignancies. With mod ern stereologic methods it is possible to obtain unbiased estimates of nucleolar volume. The aim of this this study was to present our data regarding the nucleolar size in breast carcinoma. Patients treated for breast carcinoma (n = 39) were retrieved and randomly selected from t he files of the University Institute of Pathology, Nis. Histological s ections (4 mu m) were cut from each of the routinely processed, paraff in-embedded tissue blocks and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. A Ca rt Zeiss NU-1 microscope equipped with a x 100 oil-immersion lens (N.A . = 1.25) and eyepiece graticule was used for stereological measuremen ts. A total magnification of x 1600 was used. A simple grid was used f or point sampling of nucleolar intercepts which were measured in one a rbitrary direction. By multiplying the averaged, cubed intercept lengt h by pi/3, an unbiased estimate of volume-weighted nucleolar volume wa s obtained The nucleolar volume was significantly larger in invasive d uctal carcinoma (12.34 +/- 3.48 mu m(3)) than invasive lobular carcino ma (5.6 +/- 2.73 mu m(3)) and mucinous (colloid) adenocarcinoma (0.88 +/- 0.42 mu m(3)). Various histological types of breast cancer exhibit differences with regard to nucleolar volume.