Differences in quantitative nuclear features between ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) with and without accompanying invasive carcinoma in the surrounding breast.

The aim of this study was to demonstrate differences in nuclear morphology between ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) without an invasive component and DCIS associated with invasive carcinoma in adjacent breast tissue. DCIS specimens of 60 non-comedo and 21 comedo cases were obtained from two groups of patients with or without invasive carcinoma of the breast. The analysis of DCIS nuclei was performed on formalin fixed deparaffinized thin sections stained with a stoichiometric stain following the Feulgen procedure. Nuclear features, related to nuclear size, shape and DNA distribution, were quantitatively characterized by high resolution image cytometry. Features associated with the presence of invasive carcinoma in the surrounding breast tissue were identified in DCIS nuclei (independent of nuclear grade). Features selected by the stepwise procedure of the discriminant function analysis were typically texture features describing the DNA distribution in the nucleus. A classification function based on the selected nuclear features predicted accurately the presence of invasive carcinoma in all comedo DCIS and in 80% of non-comedo DCIS cases. Our results indicate that quantitative nuclear features of DCIS nuclei are predictive of the accompanying invasion and may be helpful as a new tool in evaluation of DCIS patients.