Radiology, Vol 185, 415-422, Copyright © 1992 by Radiological Society of North America
Flow cytometric DNA analysis of excised breast lesions: use of fresh tissue needle aspirates obtained under guidance with mammography of the specimen
PC Stomper, CC Stewart, RB Penetrante, ME Nava and TN Tsangaris
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY.
Eighty consecutive biopsy specimens were studied to determine whether DNA
analysis could be performed on fine-needle aspirates of excised clinically
occult breast lesions obtained under guidance with mammography of the
specimen before fixation to offer the advantages of fresh-tissue analysis.
With use of single aspirates, cytologic analysis was possible in 50 cases
(62%); DNA analysis was possible in 75 cases (94%). These methods combined
offered no statistically significant increase in sensitivity for detection
of malignancy compared with cytologic analysis alone. Forty-one percent of
the analyzable invasive carcinomas showed aneuploidy. Aneuploidy and high S
phase fractions of the invasive carcinomas showed no substantial
correlation with patient age, nodal status, and size or appearance of the
mammographic lesion. Aneuploidy was also seen in zero of four analyzable
lesions showing ductal carcinoma in situ, two of 13 showing atypical
hyperplasia (15%), and one of the 28 remaining benign lesions (4%). The
authors conclude that this mammographic intervention is an effective means
of obtaining fresh tissue samples of clinically occult lesions for DNA
analysis.
