A cytohistologic correlation study of breast carcinoma with reference to robinson's cytologic grading system

Aim: The present study has been conducted on cases of infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast to correlate cytological Robinson's grading system with histological Nottingham modified Bloom–Richardson grading system. Settings and Design: This is a retrospective study conducted on fifty cytologically diagnosed breast carcinoma cases in the Department of Pathology, VIMSAR, Burla, Odisha. Materials and Methods: Fifty cases of cytologically diagnosed breast carcinoma were graded according to Robinson's system, and the respective histopathology slides were graded according to Nottingham modified Bloom–Richardson scoring system. The axillary lymph node (if any) status was also checked for any metastases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of Robinson's cytological grading system were calculated. Results: The absolute concordance rate between cytological and histological grades was 78% which indicates a strong correlation and significant association. Sensitivity was maximum for Grade II tumors (88.00%) while specificity was maximum for Grade III tumors (97.50%). The positive predictive value was maximum for Grade III tumors (85.71%) while the negative predictive value was maximum for Grade I tumors (94.11%). Lymph node metastases were found in 42% (21 cases) of all the tumors; maximum was (100%) in Grade III tumors. Conclusion: Cytological grade strongly correlates with histological grade and is helpful in selecting the treatment regimen.