Understanding a Breast Cancer Pathology Report

Breast cancer is a difficult diagnosis to get. For many patients, they would like to read their pathology report to understand better what is happening with their body. The pathology report is written by the patient's pathologist, which discusses her findings on the breast tissue and lymph nodes samples. However, a breast cancer pathology report can be difficult to decipher. "Breast cancer pathology reports are one of the more complex pathology reports and can seem quite overwhelming at first glance," according to Carolyn Vachani, RN, MSN, AOCN, and author of "Understanding Your Pathology Report: Breast Cancer."

Breakdown of a Pathology Report

The pathology report is broken down into four sections--procedure, gross description, microscopic description and pathological diagnosis. The first two sections of the breast cancer pathology report are more technical and will not be as helpful to patients. However, the last two sections of the pathology report discusses what has been found from the sample and the patient's cancer diagnosis. Information that is revealed include the type of cell the cancer comes from, the tumor size and grade, if the cancer has entered the lymph channels or blood vessels, information on the surgical resection margins and whether the breast cancer is caused by the Her2 gene, according to Carolyn Vachani.

Procedure and Gross Description

The first section of the breast cancer pathology report, the procedure, discusses how the tissue sample is collected. For example, the procedure section of the pathology report will cover the type of biopsy done--fine-needle aspiration biopsy, core-needle biopsy, stereotactic biopsy, ultrasonic-guided core-needle biopsy, a MRI-guided core needle biopsy or a surgical biopsy. The second section of the breast cancer pathology report, the gross description, does not provide much information to the patient. For the gross-description section, the pathologist describes the tissue sample as seen with the naked eye. Examples of descriptions the pathologist may include are the color, shape, feeling and size of the tissue.

Microscopic Description and Pathological Diagnosis

The last two sections of the breast cancer pathology report, the microscopic description and the pathological diagnosis, provides the most pertinent information for the patient. The microscopic description will determine what type of breast cancer the patient has and whether it is an invasive form. The pathologist will also give the sample a grade, based on the appearance of the nucleus, how quickly the cells are multiplying and if the cells are in a tubular formation; the higher the grade, the more severe the cancer. In the final part of the report, the pathologist will assign a stage of development, and then recommend the appropriate treatment. The stages of breast cancer are Stage 0, Stage I, Stage IIA, Stage IIB, Stage IIIA, Stage IIIB, Stage IIIC and Stage IV, according to BreastCancer.org.