Significance of nucleoli in invasive carcinoma breast–A novel parameter under study

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common female cancer. There are various histomorphological findings which will define the prognosis of tumor like pleomorphism, mitosis, architecture etc. But the role of nucleoli in assessing the prognosis of tumor is rarely studied. Hence in the present study, the significance of nucleoli is studied and its correlation with the size of tumor. Objectives: To find out the significance of nucleoli in assessing the prognosis of the carcinoma breast Material and Methods: The present study is a retrospective study. The total number of cases is 30. Review of all slides has been done mainly aiming to find out the presence or absence of nucleoli and comparison with tumor size. The statistical significance is calculated. Results: It is evident that nucleoli is seen in 33% in tumor stage 1, 77% of cases in tumor stage 2 disease and 77% of cases in tumor stage 3. So as the stage advances (worsens), chances of getting nucleoli are more. The data is not statistically significant due to less number of cases. Discussion: Tumor size is an independent prognostic factor of recurrence of tumor. In the present study it is observed that as the tumor stage increases, there are more chances of appearance of nucleoli. Conclusion: The presence of nucleoli may be considered as one of the poor prognostic factor for invasive breast carcinoma.