Concordance between cytological and histopathological grading in invasive breast carcinoma – A cross sectional study

Abstract

Invasive Breast carcinoma means that the cancer has spread beyond the ducts/lobules into the surrounding tissue. The present 2 year study was carried out at a tertiary care hospital to find the concordance between cytological and histopathological grading in invasive breast carcinoma. It included all the 100 cases of invasive breast carcinoma diagnosed on histopathology during this period with available cytology reports. Concordance of Robinson's cytological grading system was calculated in each grade with respect to histological grading. All cases evaluated for presence of metastasis to axillary lymph nodes. We found Concordance rate between cytological and histological grade as 76%. The coefficient of correlation between cytological grade and histological grade was 0.83 and P value was <0.001 which indicated a strong correlation and significant association between the cytological and histological grade. High degree of concordance is seen between cytological and histopathological grading system. Preoperative grading using FNAC helps in determining neo adjuvant chemotherapy as well as prognosis. This grading should be included in cytology reports on a regular basis because it correlates well with histological grade.