The impact of pathology on the biologic, diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic considerations in breast cancer.

It has become readily appreciated that an understanding of the pathologic aspects of breast cancer is essential to the planning of many clinical trials. The clinical findings obtained from such studies unquestionably served as a stimulus for other relevant pathologic investigations but did not always resolve all of the long-standing pathologic problems associated with the diagnosis of breast diseases. This article addresses some of the pathologic problems that have a bearing on the biologic, diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic aspects of breast cancer.