Breast cancer: Pathology, cytology, and core needle biopsy methods for diagnosis

Successful cancer treatment relies on a combination of clinical examinations, imaging studies, and pathologic evaluations. Pathologic diagnosis should not be bypassed even when health care resources are very limited and clinical/radiologic findings are very suggestive of breast cancer. A timely and accurate pathologic diagnosis can be achieved by the use of appropriate tissue sampling techniques, optimal tissue processing, and competent interpretation of pathologic findings. Accurate preoperative pathologic diagnosis confirms the malignant nature of the lesion and documents baseline expression of prognostic and predictive biomarkers, thus enabling clinicians to make optimal therapeutic strategies such as planning the extent of the surgery. Methods of obtaining tissue samples and the cytohistological techniques and histopathological features of the spectrum of breast cancer pathology are discussed in detail.