Abstract
Objective : We studied the clinicocytopathological features of invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) retrospectively.
Study Design : Ten subjects with IMPC were clinicocytopathologically compared to 500 subjects with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) patients. Samples of 9 cytological IMPC features were compared to 8 of papillotubular carcinoma.
Results : No difference was seen in age, time of menopause onset, chief complaint, or familial breast carcinoma history between subjects with IMPC and IDC. 100% of IMPC were diagnosed as category 4 or 5, and 81.6% of IDC. “Pure” IMPC featured a dual cytological pattern. It was not so difficult to presume IMPC in fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology. The pathological median tumor size was 10.0 mm in IMPC and 14.8 mm in IDC (p<0.05). Of subjects with IMPC, had 6 lymphatic invasion and 6 vessel invasion. No difference was seen between subjects with IMPC and IDC in hormone receptor status or HER2 protein expression. Axillary lymph node metastasis was seen in 20.0% of those with IMPC and 25.8% of those with IDC. Of the 10 subjects with IMPC, 1 (10.0%) had postoperative lymph node recurrence, but none died of disease.
Conclusion : It is not so difficult to presume “pure” IMPC in FNA. The prognosis among our subjects with IMPC was fairly favorable thanks to early-stage detection and the high positive hormone receptor incidence.
