Is the Presence of Mammographic Comedo Calcification Really a Prognostic Factor for Small Screen-detected Invasive Breast Cancers?

Correlation Between Mammograghic Findings and Clinical/Pathologic Features in Women with Small Invasive Breast Carcinomas

“…They found that masses with malignant stellate detected in mammographic screening was accompanied with an excellent outcome, while the presence of mammographic comedo calcifications was a poor prognostic factor in women with 1-14 mm invasive breast carcinoma. But others have ventured conflicting opinions that casting calcifications was not yet used as a prognostic factor in clinical application (Thurfjell et al, 2001;James et al, 2003;Peacock et al, 2004;Evans et al, 2006). In this retrospective study, we evaluated the correlation between mammographic findings and clinical/pathologic feature in hope of providing more information for the clinical application of higher probability malignant calcifications.…”

“…But some research published after that showed conflictive results (Thurfjell et al, 2001;James et al, 2003;Peacock et al, 2004;Evans et al, 2006). In this retrospective study, we tried to find the relevence between mammography and clinical/pathologic features, in order to provide some information for the prognosis of small breast cancer.…”

Immunohistochemical characterization of selected breast lesions

“…The study also incorporated 12 cases with casting-type microcalcification on the mammogram. The clinical outcome of this entity is still subject to some debate with some authors and results reinforcing the finding of a poor outcome [85][86][87][95][96][97] and others refuting it [98,99]. Our experience supports the poor outcome of these tumors [87], and this is why such cases were separately studied for their GHRH-R expression.…”

Do mammographic tumor features in breast cancer relate to breast density and invasiveness, tumor size, and axillary lymph node involvement?

“…Mammographic spiculation has been suggested as a positive prognostic marker due to the correlation with low-grade tumors and improved survival (7)(8)(9). The correlation between calcifications and survival has been inconsistent with some studies reporting comedo calcifications to be associated with poor prognosis (8,10), whereas others report no association (7,11). Ill-defined masses on mammography have been associated with prognostically unfavorable tumor factors, such as a high grade or large tumor size (6).…”