Mh. Lyda et al., Keratin immunohistochemistry detects clinically significant metastases in bone marrow biopsy specimens in women with lobular breast carcinoma, AM J SURG P, 24(12), 2000, pp. 1593-1599
Citations number
13
Categorie Soggetti
Research/Laboratory Medicine & Medical Tecnology","Medical Research Diagnosis & Treatment
Some patients with breast cancer currently undergo bone marrow biopsy to ma
ke clinical decisions regarding therapy, however, lobular carcinoma can be
difficult to detect in routine histologic sections. The authors reviewed re
trospectively all available bone marrow biopsies from patients with lobular
carcinoma diagnosed between January, 1, 1989, and September, 25, 1997, at
the City of Hope National Medical Center to identify useful morphologic fea
tures and to determine the utility of pan-keratin immunohistochemical (INC)
staining. A total of 65 biopsies from 54 patients were reviewed. Thirteen
of the 65 biopsies were classified initially as containing metastatic tumor
based on histologic features alone. With the addition of keratin IHC, seve
n additional cases of metastatic disease were detected. Forty of the 54 pat
ients received stem cell replacement or autologous bone marrow transplantat
ion. Disease-free survival after high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell repl
acement or autologous bone marrow transplantation was stratified into three
groups based on hematoxylin and cosin (H&E) staining and MC results, Two-y
ear disease-free survival was 33% for the H&E-/IHC+ group versus 90% for th
e H&E-/IHC- group (p = 0.005) among patients clinically free of disease at
the time of stem cell replacement ol autologous bone marrow transplantation
. Two-year disease-free survival was 0% in the H&E+/IHC+ group (p = 0.04, c
ompared with the H&E-/IHC+ group). The authors conclude that routine morpho
logic examination without the aid of keratin THC is unreliable in detecting
clinically relevant metastatic lobular carcinoma in bone marrow biopsies.
These findings suggest that pan-keratin immunostaining may be indicated on
bone marrow biopsy specimens from lobular carcinoma patients if the biopsy
appears histologically negative for metastatic tumor on H&E sections.