Image-guided core breast biopsy: a suitable method for pre-operative biological characterization of small (pT1) breast carcinomas

Multiple prognostic indicators, namely histological grade and immunostaining for estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PgR), MIB1, bcl-2, and p53, were retrospectively determined on preoperative core biopsies from 75 patients with pT1 breast carcinoma. The association of the preoperatively evaluated factors with those on the corresponding resected tumors (i.e. nodal status, histological grade, presence or absence of vascular invasion and necrosis) was assessed. In univariate analysis, histological grade on resected tumors was significantly associated with histological grade on core biopsy, p53 expression, MIB1 immunostaining. An inverse association was found between postoperative histologic grade and ER, PgR, and bcl-2. Necrosis was significantly associated with grade, p53, MIB1, and inversely with ER, PgR, and bcl-2. Nodal involvement and vascular invasion were significantly associated with MIB1. In multivariate analysis, histological grade and ER were the only independent core biopsy variables associated with postoperative histological grade and necrosis, respectively. This study showed that image-guided core biopsy is a suitable method that can be used to reveal some characteristics of the tumor biology in a preoperative stage.