Therapy-induced histopathological changes in breast cancers: The changing role of pathology in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment

Aim: Breast cancer therapy causes morphological alterations in the cancerous as well as the surrounding healthy tissue. The histopathological interpretation in such cases, thus, requires a thorough knowledge of the cytological and stromal changes rendered by the therapy during and posttherapy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate such cytological and stromal changes rendered by the therapy in breast cancer cases. Methods: The present study was a combined retrospective and prospective study, wherein clinical and histopathological details were collected from a total of 39 cases of breast carcinoma before and posttherapy, and the changes induced by the therapy were correlated. Results: Stage II breast carcinoma was found to be the most predominant stage, while invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified (IDC-NOS) of tumor was the most common histologic type both before (94.87%) and after (76.92%) therapy. Pathologic complete response (pCR) was observed in 18% of the cases while 15% showed pathologic partial response (pPR) and 66.7% cases had a stable disease. Intracellular changes commonly noted after chemotherapy included nuclear enlargement, hyperchromasia, and increased nuclear: cytoplasmic ratio while predominant stromal changes included necrosis (74.4%), fibrosis (64.1%), and desmoplasia (59%). Conclusion: Breast cancer therapy causes morphological alterations in the cancerous as well as the surrounding healthy tissue. The histopathological interpretation in such cases, thus, requires a thorough knowledge of the cytological and stromal changes rendered by the therapy.