ER Immunohistochemistry of Breast Core Biopsies
ER Immunohistochemistry of Breast Core Biopsies
Review of H&E-stained slides confirmed the presence of invasive carcinoma in all five cores of each case; they were all infiltrating ductal carcinomas of no special type. In all cases the histologic features of five cores on slides A and B, as well as their tinctorial properties, were comparable.
Five of the 22 tumors were negative for ER in all five cores. In three of these cases, ER-positive non-neoplastic epithelial elements were present in at least one of the five cores, serving as the internal positive controls. Table 2 summarizes the mean Q scores of 17 ER-positive tumors. All tumors showed Q scores of 6 to 7 (strongly positive) regardless of the length of fixation Image 1. There were no significant differences in the intensity or the percentage of positive nuclei in cores 1, 2, 3, and 4 with fixation times of 30 minutes to 168 hours. Similarly, the Q scores of all cores processed by the microwave-assisted rapid processor were identical to the control cores (core 5) that were processed overnight in the conventional instrument. The semiquantitative Q scores that were determined independently by the two observers were concordant for all ER-positive cases.
(Enlarge Image)
Image 1.
Estrogen receptor immunohistochemistry of core sections from a single case of infiltrating ductal carcinoma fixed in formalin for 30 minutes (A), 60 minutes (B), 24 hours (C), and 1 week (D); all were processed by the rapid processing system. E, The same tumor fixed in formalin for 48 hours and processed in the overnight processor in parallel with the main specimen.
Results
Review of H&E-stained slides confirmed the presence of invasive carcinoma in all five cores of each case; they were all infiltrating ductal carcinomas of no special type. In all cases the histologic features of five cores on slides A and B, as well as their tinctorial properties, were comparable.
Five of the 22 tumors were negative for ER in all five cores. In three of these cases, ER-positive non-neoplastic epithelial elements were present in at least one of the five cores, serving as the internal positive controls. Table 2 summarizes the mean Q scores of 17 ER-positive tumors. All tumors showed Q scores of 6 to 7 (strongly positive) regardless of the length of fixation Image 1. There were no significant differences in the intensity or the percentage of positive nuclei in cores 1, 2, 3, and 4 with fixation times of 30 minutes to 168 hours. Similarly, the Q scores of all cores processed by the microwave-assisted rapid processor were identical to the control cores (core 5) that were processed overnight in the conventional instrument. The semiquantitative Q scores that were determined independently by the two observers were concordant for all ER-positive cases.
(Enlarge Image)
Image 1.
Estrogen receptor immunohistochemistry of core sections from a single case of infiltrating ductal carcinoma fixed in formalin for 30 minutes (A), 60 minutes (B), 24 hours (C), and 1 week (D); all were processed by the rapid processing system. E, The same tumor fixed in formalin for 48 hours and processed in the overnight processor in parallel with the main specimen.
