THE MALIGNANT-CELLS IN STERNAL BONE-MARROW OF BREAST-CANCER PATIENTS AND STAGING - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

Bone marrow aspirates were obtained from 55 patients affected by breas t cancer. Bone marrow aspirate smears and paraffin clot sections (40 p atients) were processed. Malignant cells were identified in 16 patient s. Bone marrow positive rates for clinical stage II, III and IV were 2 9,1%, 28% and 40% respectively. 35.5% of the patients with poor pathol ogic prognostic features had positive bone marrow. 63.6% of the patien ts with positive bone marrow and 15.8% of the patients with negative b one marrow died. Statistically, this difference was significant (p<0.0 5). It can be concluded that the existence of malignant cells in bone marrow can constitute a parameter that shows poor prognosis of breast cancer and may affect the clinical staging of TNM.