Nipple discharge--study on 100 patients.

In a retrospective study the authors analyzed 100 cases of women with serous, serosanguineous, and sanguineous nipple discharges, without palpable and radiologically visible tumors, that were submitted to resection of main galactophorous ducts and biopsy of underlying breast parenchyma. The sensibility of the cytologic examination of nipple discharges for carcinomas was 16.6%. The histopathology showed incidence of 61% of mammary dysplasia, 33% of intraductal papillomas single or multiple and 6% of carcinomas. The early diagnosis of carcinoma gave good results after radical surgical treatment.

Independent prognostic value of laminin receptor expression in breast cancer survival.

We studied the possible prognostic role of laminin, estrogen (ER), and progesterone (PR) receptors and other pathological factors in relation to the disease-free interval and overall survival of female breast carcinoma patients. Multivariate analyses of clinical and pathological data with respect to the above survival time variables were performed by Cox regression. The statistical dependence of prognosis on ER, PR, and tumor size was based on the discriminant cutoff value that could best distinguish between survival curves. Axillary nodal status was the most significant independent factor in the prediction of both disease-free interval and overall survival of these patients. Use of the information on laminin receptor expression, PR concentration, tumor size, lymphocytic infiltrate, and tumor necrosis improved significantly the prediction of the risk of recurrence. Patients with tumors expressing laminin receptors had 40% less risk of recurrence (P = 0.0209) than those with no expression. On the other hand, four covariates were independently predictive of the risk of death: axillary nodal status, lymphocytic infiltrate, PR and ER concentration. There was a marginally significant (10% level) interaction between tumor size and lymphocytic infiltrate with respect to the prediction of the risk of recurrence. The above sets of variables were used to classify patients into risk groups for the prediction of recurrence and death.