Introduction Perhaps the most frequent use of diagnostic immunohistochemistry (IHC) in the surgical pathology laboratory pertains to breast biopsies by virtue of the volume and sheer difficulty of cases. In addition to utilizing IHC for diagnostic problems with breast biopsies,…
Introduction Administration of chemotherapy or endocrine therapy before definitive surgery (neoadjuvant systemic therapy [NST]) is a standard treatment for inflammatory and inoperable locally advanced breast cancer. With advances in breast imaging and improvements in tumor characterization and staging, patients who…
Introduction The word apocrine in medical literature is used in general to denote a gland or cell exhibiting a distinct type of glandular secretion in which the free end of the secreting cell is cast off along with the secretory…
Introduction Historically, breast cancers have been classified broadly based on morphology into ductal and lobular types and characterized by tumor grading. A smaller percentage of tumors are classified as “special subtype carcinomas.” This classification system has provided useful prognostic information.…
Introduction For diagnosing a majority of breast lesions, a high-quality hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) stained section is all that is needed. However, in our quest for improved diagnostic accuracy, immunohistochemistry (IHC) is frequently used in diagnostic breast pathology. The sheer volume and…
Introduction This chapter is divided into three main sections. The first two include discussion of well-known prognostic/predictive markers—namely, steroid hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone) and one of the most well-studied oncogenes in breast cancer, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2…