CYTOHISTOLOGIC CORRELATION OF NUCLEAR GRADE IN BREAST-CARCINOMA

OBJECTIVE: To compare the nuclear grade (NG) in cytologic material (CN G) obtained from breast fine needle aspiration biopsies (FNABs) with t he NG observed in surgical biopsies (BNG) of the same tumors. STUDY DE SIGN: The study group consisted of 135 breast carcinomas with both FNA B and biopsy. Most of them were invasive ductal carcinomas. Cytologic aspirates and tissue sections were graded simultaneously by the three authors using a multiheaded microscope. Fisher's modification of Black 's nuclear grading scheme was used. RESULTS: There was agreement betwe en CNG and BNG in 70.37% of tumors. The percentage coincidence was sli ghtly greater for NG 3. CONCLUSION: Nuclear grade can be easily establ ished on FNAB. The lack of correlation (29.63%) may have been due to t umor heterogeneity and observer subjectivity when assigning nuclear gr ade.