Morphological and biological characteristics of mammogram-detected invasive breast cancer

Abstract Thirty-nine mammographically detected, (M-detected) small invasive carcinomas of the breast (⩽5 mm) were compared with 78 consecutive clinical cancers (⩾10 mm) for a variety of morphological and biological markers of prognostic importance. There were more tubular carcinomas in the M-detected group (12.8% v 3.8%), but this did not reach statistical significance. Incidences of other histological types were similar. The types of associated in situ component were similar in the two groups. M-detected cancers were of lower overall grade ( P P = .0164 and P P P P = .0398), had lower levels of microvessel density ( P = .0001), and were more often diploid ( P = .0131). S-phase of diploid tumors in the two groups was similar, but S-phase of aneuploid tumors was lower in the M-detected group ( P = .0057). Ki67 expression was lower in M-detected cancers ( P