Diagnostic Role of Collagen Type III Alpha1 in Fibroepithelial Lesions of the Breast: An Immunohistochemical Study

Abstract

Fibroepithelial tumors of the breast are biphasic tumors including both FA and PT, and they are composed of an epithelial component and a predominant stromal component. The 2012 WHO Classification of Tumors of The Breast classified the PT into benign, borderline, and malignant grades according to stromal cellularity, cytologic atypia, stromal overgrowth, mitotic activity and microscopic margins, and presence of heterologous malignant element (Rosen, 2009; Lakhani et al., 2012). Where 70% of PTs are histologically benign, 15% of PTs are borderline, and 15% of PTs are malignant, with risk of recurrence 13%, 15%, and 20%, respectively (Lakhani et al., 2012). FA is an indolent tumor, which may be treated conservatively or by simple enucleation. But PT has unpredictable behavior, where it may recur as high grade and metastasize (Rosen, 2009). Therefore all grades of PT treated by wide surgical margin up to 1cm as favored by some authors and required follow up after excision every 6 months for the first 2 years (Reinfuss et al., 1996; Chaney et al., 2000; Guillot et al., 2011; Mishra et a., 2013).