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Brief fixation does not hamper the reliability of Ki67 analysis in breast cancer core‐needle biopsies: a double‐centre study
Author(s) -
Kalkman Shona,
Bulte Joris P,
Halilovic Altuna,
Bult Peter,
Diest Paul J
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
histopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.626
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1365-2559
pISSN - 0309-0167
DOI - 10.1111/his.12521
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , immunohistochemistry , fixation (population genetics) , biopsy , surgery , cancer , pathology , oncology , population , environmental health
Aims Immunohistochemical assessment of Ki67 expression in core‐needle biopsies ( CNB s) is increasingly playing a role in therapeutic decision‐making for breast cancer patients. Within the framework of same‐day diagnosis of breast lesions, fixation times are markedly decreased. We therefore attempted to validate Ki67 analysis in briefly fixed breast cancer CNB s. Methods and results CNB s of 136 consecutive patients with invasive breast cancer diagnosed through the same‐day diagnosis programme of both the University Medical Centre Utrecht ( UMCU ) and the Radboud University Medical Centre ( RUMC ) were included. CNB s were fixed in formaldehyde for approximately 45 min at the UMCU and for between 60 and 90 min at the RUMC . Immunohistochemistry for Ki67 expression was compared between the briefly fixed CNB s and conventionally fixed resection specimens of the same tumour. The overall agreement between CNB s and resections was 122 of 142 (85.9%) (κ = 0.71; 95% CI 0.60–0.83). Positive and negative predictive values were 79.7% (95% CI 67–88%) and 91.0% (95% CI 82–96%), respectively. Conclusions Overall agreement for Ki67 expression was good between briefly fixed CNB s and conventionally fixed resection specimens, and within the range of studies comparing conventionally fixed CNB s and resections.