- Breast cancer work up
- Assessment of grade considers three tumour characteristics (TNM):
- Tubule formation
- Nuclear pleomorphism
- Mitotic counts
- A numerical scoring system of 1-3 is used for each factor individually, the three scores added together to produce scores of 3-9
- Grade 1 – well differentiated = score 3-5 (10-year survival 85%).
- Grade 2 - moderately differentiated = score 6-7
- Grade 3 - poorly differentiated = 8-9 (10-year survival 45%).
- TNM staging system does not include grade
- Highly significant correlation with long-term prognosis
- Both Breast Ca specific survival and disease-free survival
- NB: Effect also shown for ILC
