Effect of short-term pre-operative tamoxifen on the cytological grade of breast cancer

Tamoxifen is regarded as the most important drug in breast cancer management. Administration of tamoxifen in the period between diagnosis and excision is an attractive option but the effect of this on cancer morphology is not established. Ninety-five breast carcinomas had positive fine-needle aspiration (FNA) prior to starting tamoxifen. FNA was repeated at operation and the two aspirates were compared. Treatment with tamoxifen effected a slight reduction in overall cytological grade but this did not reach significance on Wilcoxonʹs test. Pre-operative tamoxifen alters breast cancer morphology but is unlikely to affect histological grade.