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Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the breast

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Abstract

Five cases of mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) of the breast are reported. All patients were women ranging in age from 29 years to 80 years. As histological grading is one of the most important prognostic factors in breast invasive carcinomas, MEC was graded using the Auclair et al. [1] grading system specific for MEC of salivary glands and the Elston and Ellis [4] grading method, a widely employed grading system in breast cancer. It was found that the two different grading systems appear to be interchangeable in assessing the grade of MEC of the breast. Accordingly, three cases were regarded low grade (G. 1), one intermediate (G. 2) and one high grade (G. 3). The cases were studied with immunohistochemistry and were found to have the same keratin pattern shown by their salivary gland counterpart. It was found that there are more similarities than differences between MEC of the breast and of salivary glands.

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Acknowledgements

Drs. S. Fiaccavento, P. Fontana, S. Rahimi, S. Sulfaro and S. Cerasoli must be thanked for having permitted the enclosure of cases 2, 3, 4, and 5. The work was granted by the University of Bologna (60%) and by the “Programma ricerca scientifica di rilevante interesse nazionale 2002” (40%).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Oncologiche, Sezione di Anatomia Patologica, Università di Bologna, Ospedale Bellaria, Via Altura 3, 40139 , Bologna, Italy

    Luca Di Tommaso, Maria P. Foschini, Teresa Ragazzini, Elisabetta Magrini & Vincenzo Eusebi

  2. Anatomic Pathology, Ospedale Maggiore, Bologna, Italy

    Adele Fornelli

  3. Department of Histopathology, City Hospital NHS Trust, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Ian O. Ellis

Authors
  1. Luca Di Tommaso
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  2. Maria P. Foschini
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  3. Teresa Ragazzini
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  4. Elisabetta Magrini
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  5. Adele Fornelli
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  6. Ian O. Ellis
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  7. Vincenzo Eusebi
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Correspondence to Vincenzo Eusebi.

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Di Tommaso, L., Foschini, M.P., Ragazzini, T. et al. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the breast. Virchows Arch 444, 13–19 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-003-0923-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-003-0923-y

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