Tubular carcinoma of the breast: association with multicentricity, bilaterality, and family history of mammary carcinoma.

Seventeen tubular carcinomas occurred among 211 consecutive mastectomies (7.6%). The relative frequencies of multicentric involvement in the ipsilateral breast (56%), history of bilateral mammary cancer (38%) (P less than .01), and family history of mammary cancer in a first-degree relative (40%) (P less than .05) were all significantly greater in patients with tubular carcinomas than among patients with other carcinomas studied in a review of serial subgross examined mastectomy specimens. Patients with tubular carcinomas also tended to be somewhat younger (56 vs. 59 years) than those with other forms of mammary cancer. These features suggest that tubular carcinoma may be a histologic marker for a subpopulation of patients with mammary carcinomas strongly associated with multicentricity, bilaterality, and familial history of mammary carcinoma.