Objective cytological criteria in assessing the degree of the differentiation of breast cancer cells

Quantitative assessment of basic cytological and some morphometric parameters in punctates obtained from 98 cases of breast cancer showed well-differentiated tumors to have fairly small (126.7 microns 2) nuclei (63.1% of cells), a relatively small number of hyperchromatic and "bare" nuclei (29.6% each) and large nucleoli in the nucleus (9.6%); cell clusters prevailed (coefficient--2.56). Moderately differentiated tumor revealed a wider range of nucleus size, less clustering (coefficient--3.59) and more hyperchromatic (70.1%) and "bare" (49.4%) nuclei and large nucleoli (22.2%). Poorly differentiated carcinomas appeared even more pleomorphic due to increased number of cells (46.5%) containing large (140-260 microns 2) nuclei. The coefficient of clustering was 3.99 whereas the percentage of hyperchromatic and "bare" nuclei and large nucleoli-69.7, 52.1 and 17.4. The above figures may be used to evaluate the degree of tumor cell differentiation in individual patient.