IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL DETERMINATION OF ESTROGEN AND PROGESTERONE-RECEPTOR CONTENT IN HUMAN BREAST-CANCER - COMPUTER-ASSISTED IMAGE-ANALYSIS (QIC SCORE) VS SUBJECTIVE GRADING (IRS)

Immunohistochemistry of Estrogen Receptor (ER) and Progesterone Recept or (PR) has been performed in 687 cases of human breast cancer. The st aining results have been compared by (1) computer-assisted image analy sis (QIC Score) and (2) subjective grading of the cryostat sections (' 'German'' IRS). Tumors without or with only weak ER or PR content may be distinguished by both methods from tumors with a high receptor cont ent. The QIC Score values belonging to the intermediate IRS grades are distributed over a wide range, but no negative cases were found in th ese categories. It is concluded from our results that subjective gradi ng of the slides is a simple, rapid and useful method for the determin ation of the tissue receptor content and must not be replaced by the e xpensive and time-consuming computer-assisted image analysis in daily practice.