The development of microwave breast cancer detection and treatment techniques has been driven by reports of substantial contrast in the dielectric properties of malignant and normal breast tissues. However, definitive knowledge of the dielectric properties of normal and diseased breast tissues at microwave frequencies has been limited by gaps and discrepancies across previously published studies. To address these issues, we conducted a large-scale study to experimentally determine the ultrawideband microwave dielectric properties of a variety of normal, malignant and benign breast tissues, measured from 0.5 to 20 GHz using a precision open-ended coaxial probe. Previously, we reported the dielectric properties of normal breast tissue samples obtained from reduction surgeries. Here, we report the dielectric properties of normal (adipose, glandular and fibroconnective), malignant (invasive and non-invasive ductal and lobular carcinomas) and benign (fibroadenomas and cysts) breast tissue samples obtained from cancer surgeries. We fit a one-pole Cole-Cole model to the complex permittivity data set of each characterized sample. Our analyses show that the contrast in the microwave-frequency dielectric properties between malignant and normal adipose-dominated tissues in the breast is considerable, as large as 10:1, while the contrast in the microwave-frequency dielectric properties between malignant and normal glandular/fibroconnective tissues in the breast is no more than about 10%.

DSPTC, TCV, CCV, and IC are thyroid cancer subtypes, which have a biological aggressiveness, which appear to be intermediate between that of WDTC and poorly differentiated anaplastic thyroid cancer. J. Surg. Oncol. 2004;86:44-54.

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The 2014 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of Female Reproductive Organs endorsed the new category of seromucinous carcinoma, a neoplasm that exhibits morphologic and immunophenotypic overlap with other histotypes of ovarian carcinoma. The goal of this study was to determine whether seromucinous carcinoma was a distinct histotype by assessing its diagnostic reproducibility and comparing its molecular composition to the 5 major histotypes of ovarian carcinoma. Thirty-two tumors diagnosed as seromucinous carcinomas from 2 centers were studied. Eighteen cases were randomly selected for a review set comprising a total of 50 ovarian carcinomas of various histotypes. Morphologic histotype was independently assessed by 4 pathologists. For the 32 seromucinous carcinomas, a histotype-specific immunophenotype was assigned using a diagnostic immunohistochemical panel. Histotype-specific genotype was assigned using a combination of immunohistochemistry and targeted next-generation sequencing for somatic mutations, including genes recurrently mutated in ovarian carcinomas. There was low to modest agreement between pathologists with the reference diagnosis of seromucinous carcinoma, ranging from 39% to 56% for the 4 observers. The immunophenotype was not unique but overlapped predominantly with endometrioid and to a lesser extent with mucinous and low-grade serous carcinoma. Genomic and immunohistochemical alterations were detected in a number of target genes, including KRAS (70%), PIK3CA (37%), PTEN (19%), and ARID1A (16%); no CTNNB1 mutations were identified. Nine cases (30%) harbored concurrent KRAS/PIK3CA mutations. An endometrioid genotype was assigned to 19 cases, a low-grade serous genotype to 9, and a mucinous genotype to 1 and 3 cases were uninformative. Integrating morphology, immunophenotype, and genotyping resulted in reclassifying the seromucinous carcinomas to endometrioid 23/32 (72%), low-grade serous 8/32 (25%), and mucinous 1/32 (3%). The morphologic diagnosis of seromucinous carcinomas is not very reliable and it does not exhibit a distinct immunophenotype or genotype. The molecular features overlap mostly with endometrioid and low-grade serous carcinomas. Our data suggest the category of seromucinous carcinoma be discontinued as ancillary molecular tests can assign cases to one of the major histotypes.

Although infrequently encountered, the diagnosis of ovarian high-grade endometrioid carcinoma remains a diagnostic challenge with potential consequences for targeted therapies and genetic counselling. We studied the clinical, morphologic, and immunohistochemical features of ovarian high-grade endometrioid carcinomas and their diagnostic reproducibility compared with tuboovarian high-grade serous carcinomas. Thirty cases confirmed as International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics grade 3 endometrioid carcinomas were identified from 182 ovarian endometrioid carcinomas diagnosed in Alberta, Canada, between 1978 and 2010, from the population-based Alberta Ovarian Tumor Types cohort. Cases of lower grade endometrioid and high-grade serous carcinoma served for comparison. Ten immunohistochemical markers were assessed on tissue microarrays. Clinical data were abstracted and survival analyses performed using Cox regression. Interobserver reproducibility for histologic type was assessed using 1 representative hematoxylin and eosin-stained slide from 25 randomly selected grade 3 endometrioid carcinomas and 25 high-grade serous carcinomas. Histotype was independently assigned by 5 pathologists initially blinded to immunohistochemical WT1/p53 status, with subsequent reassessment unblinded to WT1/p53 status. Patients diagnosed with grade 3 endometrioid carcinoma had a significantly longer survival compared with high-grade serous carcinoma in univariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR]=0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.16-0.67, P=0.0012) but not after adjusting for age, stage, treatment center, and residual tumor (HR=1.01, 95% CI=0.43-2.16, P=0.98). Grade 3 endometrioid carcinoma cases (N=30) were identical to grade 2 endometrioid carcinoma cases (N=23) with respect to survival in univariate analysis (HR=1.07, 95% CI=0.39-3.21, P=0.89) and immunohistochemical profile. Using histomorphology alone, interobserver agreement for the diagnosis of grade 3 endometrioid or high-grade serous carcinoma was 69%, which significantly increased (P<0.0001) to 96% agreement with the knowledge of WT1/p53 status. Our data support the diagnostic value of WT1/p53 status in differentiating between grade 3 endometrioid carcinoma and high-grade serous carcinoma. However, grade 3 and grade 2 endometrioid carcinomas showed no differences in immunophenotype or clinical parameters, suggesting that they could be combined into a single group.