Pathology reports are written in medical language because they are prepared for health care providers. This can make some of the wording hard to understand.
However, understanding the basic parts of the report can help you be better informed about your diagnosis.
Different pathology labs may use different terms to describe the same information. So, your report may not have the exact wording found here.
Needle biopsy reports contain less information than surgical biopsy reports.
Also, some tests are only done when invasive breast cancer or certain types of breast cancer are found. If no cancer is found in the tissue or if your diagnosis is ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), many of the sections described below will not be on your report.
Some information on a pathology report is a bit different for people who get neoadjuvant therapy compared to those who get surgery as their first treatment.
This is the most important section of the report. It gives the pathologist’s final diagnosis and may include information on the tumor such as size, type, grade, hormone receptor status and HER2 status.
If lymph nodes were removed, the status of these lymph nodes will also be included.
This information may appear grouped together or as separate sections.
The microscopic description details what the pathologist saw and measured when they looked at the biopsy tissue under a microscope.
Tumor size is most often reported in centimeters or millimeters (1 inch = 2.54 centimeters = 25.4 millimeters).
The best way to measure tumor size is under a microscope, especially for small tumors.
The longest length of the tumor in the tissue removed during surgery is reported as the tumor size.
The tumor size may be much smaller than the size of the tissue sample. The measurement of entire sample is reported in the gross description.
In general, the smaller the tumor, the better the prognosis (chance of survival) tends to be.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-invasive breast cancer.
With DCIS, the cancer cells are contained within the milk ducts. It’s called “in situ” (which means “in place”) because the cancer cells have not spread to nearby breast tissue.
Invasive breast cancer has spread from the original site (the milk ducts or lobules) into the nearby breast tissue, and possibly to nearby lymph nodes and/or other parts of the body.
For invasive breast cancers, the pathologist notes the shape of the cancer cells and how many of the cancer cells are in the process of dividing to determine the histologic grade.
Tumor grade describes the structure of the cells and is different from tumor stage. It’s reported using either a number system or words.
In general, the more the cancer cells look like normal breast cells, the lower the grade and the better the prognosis (chances for survival) tends to be.
The most common grading system is the Nottingham system:
The nuclear grade describes how closely the nuclei of cancer cells look like the nuclei of normal breast cells.
In general, the higher the nuclear grade, the more abnormal the nuclei are and the more aggressive the tumor cells tend to be.
The nuclear grade is a part of overall tumor grade.
Hormone receptors are proteins found inside some cancer cells. When hormones attach to hormone receptors, the cancer cells with these receptors grow.
The standard of care is to test all breast cancers for hormone receptor status. The hormone receptor status of your tumor helps guide your treatment.
If the tumor is ER-positive and PR-positive, your treatment will include hormone therapy (such as tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor). Hormone therapy prevents the cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow and may stop tumor growth.
Sometimes, a breast cancer is ER-positive, but PR-negative. Because current hormone therapies are designed to treat ER-positive cancers, these cases are treated the same as breast cancers that are positive for both hormone receptors.
Hormone receptor-negative breast cancers are not treated with hormone therapy.
If the tumor is ER-negative, PR-negative and HER2-negative, you may see the tumor described as triple negative breast cancer.
HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) is a protein that appears on the surface of some breast cancer cells. It may also be called HER2/neu or ErbB2.
The HER2 protein is an important part of the pathway for cell growth and survival.
The standard of care is to test all breast cancers for HER2 status. HER2 status helps guide your treatment.
The main tests for HER2 status are:
Most often, IHC is the first test done. If the score is +2 (borderline), the tumor is sent for FISH testing to confirm the status.
Results of an IHC test
Score is 0 or 1+
Tumor is HER2-negative
Results are unclear and should be confirmed by FISH
Tumor is HER2-positive
Results of a FISH test
The tumor is HER2-negative
The tumor is HER2-positive
HER2-positive cancers can benefit from HER2-targeted therapies, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), which directly target the HER2 receptor.
Trastuzumab and other HER2-targeted therapies are not used to treat HER2-negative cancers.
If the tumor is HER2-negative, ER-negative and PR-negative, you may see the tumor described as triple negative breast cancer.
When breast cancer is surgically removed (during a surgical biopsy, lumpectomy or mastectomy), a rim of normal tissue surrounding the tumor is also removed. This rim is called a margin.
The pathologist looks at the margins under a microscope and determines whether or not they contain cancer cells. This helps show whether or not all of the tumor was removed.
Negative margins (also called clean, not involved or clear margins)
Positive margins (also called involved margins)
Close margins
Lympho-vascular invasion occurs when cancer cells enter lymph channels or small blood vessels. This may suggest a more aggressive tumor.
If lymph nodes in the underarm area (axillary lymph nodes) were removed during surgery, the pathologist looks at them under a microscope and determines whether or not they contain cancer.
In general, lymph node-negative breast cancers have a better prognosis (chances for survival) than lymph node-positive breast cancers.
The following items are included in all pathology reports, but don’t impact prognosis (chances for survival) or treatment.
This section of the report has basic information including your name, medical record number, date of birth, age and sex, date of the breast biopsy and name of the doctor who ordered the report (most often your surgeon).
Be sure to check this information to make sure you have the correct pathology report.
This section records the location in the breast where the biopsy sample(s) was removed. It may simply state left or right breast, or it may give more detail.
It also includes the date the pathologist received the tissue.
This is a description of the type of biopsies used to remove the tissue sample and lymph nodes (if lymph nodes were removed).
The clinical history describes the initial diagnosis before the breast biopsy and sometimes, a brief summary of your symptoms.
The location of the tumor biopsy is also noted (for example, left or right breast).
If you had breast cancer in the past and the biopsy tissue is available, the pathologist will often review this tissue to distinguish the recurrence of a past tumor from a new breast cancer.
One of the first things pathologists do when they receive biopsy tissue is take measurements and record a description of the tissue as it appears to the naked eye (without a microscope).
This gross description may include the size, weight, color, texture or other features of the tissue and any other visual notes.
If there are multiple samples, there’s often a separate gross description section for each sample. In these cases, the pathologist gives a reference number or letter to each tissue sample to avoid confusion.
The gross description also includes information on how the sample was handled once it reached the pathologist.
The pathologist signs and dates the report (most often, electronically).
The following items don’t impact prognosis (chances for survival) or treatment and may not appear on your report.
Some of these tests are only done for certain diagnoses. Others aren’t routinely done because they don’t predict prognosis better than standard measures or because they aren’t reliable measures for all tumors.
Beyond HER2 status testing, IHC can detect other molecular markers that may give information on prognosis.
The proliferation rate is the percentage of cancer cells actively dividing. In general, the higher the proliferation rate, the more aggressive the tumor tends to be.
Proliferation rate could be a good predictor of prognosis. However, there are issues related to its measurement. Although it may be assessed at some medical centers, it’s not standard of care.
The Ki-67 test is a common way to measure proliferation rate. When cells are growing and dividing (proliferating), they make proteins called proliferation antigens. Ki-67 is a proliferation antigen.
MIB1 is the antibody most often used to label the Ki-67 antigen. The more cells MIB1 attaches to in a tissue sample, the more likely the tumor cells are to grow and divide rapidly.
The result of this test is reported as the percentage of Ki-67-positive cells (the proportion of cancer cells in the process of dividing). A higher value shows a higher proliferation rate.