Cytopathologie des tumeurs malignes épithéliales

Abstract

Epithelial tumours account for 98 % of all malignant breast tumours. The most frequent are common ductal types, lobular and particular types which often have very characteristic cytological aspects. The importance of treatment diagnosis for these particular types can be justified by an often better prognosis. Diagnosing malignancy can be confirmed by a cytological examination. Difficulties occur on the one hand when the atypias are discrete, and on the other hand in confirming the lobular variety of the proliferation. The in situ types can be suggered but it is always impossible to be precise about the cytological in situ or infiltrating character the proliferation. Carcinoma diagnosis in the pre- and post-partum period is often unambiguous ; the difficulty is to know well the physiological changes in the breast during this period so as not to wrongly diagnose malignancy. Carcinomas in man, essentially of the ductal type, can show all the cytological aspects of this tumor. The clinical presentation, in general, suggests malignancy with or without inflammatory cutaneous features, very different from the simple aspect of a gynaecomastia.