Prognostic significance of the intra-vessel tumor characteristics of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast: a prospective study

Invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs) of the breast are composed of stroma-invasive tumors and tumors in vessels. The purpose of this study was to prospectively investigate whether the histological characteristics of the tumors in vessels were more significantly associated with the outcome of 393 IDC patients than well-known histological parameters. Multivariate analyses showed greater than six apoptotic figures in tumor cells in lymph vessels to be significantly associated with increased hazard rates (HRs) of tumor recurrence and death in IDC patients without nodal metastasis (P<0.05). Among IDC patients with nodal metastasis whose tumors were positive for estrogen receptors (ERs) or progesterone receptors (PRs) or both, greater than six apoptotic figures in tumor cells in lymph vessels and greater than four mitotic figures in tumor cells in lymph vessels significantly increased the HR of tumor recurrence and the HR of death, respectively (P<0.05). Among IDC patients with nodal metastases whose tumors were negative for ERs and PRs, multivariate analyses showed that greater than two apoptotic figures in the blood vessel tumor emboli significantly increased the HRs of tumor recurrence and death (P<0.005). We conclude that apoptotic figures and mitotic figures in tumor cells in vessels are very important prognostic indicators for patients with IDC of the breast.