Types of tumor lymphoid response and sinus histiocytosis. Relationship to five-year, disease-free survival in patients with breast cancer.

Diffuse (D), perivascular (PV), and a combination form (DPV) of lymphoid infiltrates were found in 95% of invasive breast cancers. The DPV and D patterns were associated with tumor necrosis, and the D pattern with cancers of nuclear grade 3 (most anaplastic) and histologic grade 3 (most malignant). An absent cell reaction was significantly related to absent nodal metastases. Life-table analyses disclosed a higher incidence of patients' being disease free for five years when no cell reaction was encountered. There was no significant association between the presence or absence of any particular type of sinus histiocytosis (SH) of regional lymph nodes and five-year, disease-free survival. It is uncertain whether lymphoid reactions and SH represent immunologic host responses, but if they do, they appear to be biologically ineffectual and, in the former instance, perhaps even detrimental.