Oestrogen receptor status and histopathological grade of primary breast carcinoma as determined by immunohistochemical assay.

Immunohistochemical assay was performed for oestrogen receptors (ER) on postmastectomy specimens of 66 histologically confirmed cases of primary breast carcinoma. All the cases were non-pregnant black African women aged 18 years and above and had not had prior anti-cancer therapy. The mastectomy specimens were fixed in formal saline and embedded in paraffin wax and subjected to routine histopathological procedures. They were graded according to the G-histopathological classification. The majority (62.1%) of the tumours were of the G₂ (moderate) grade. A total of 27(65.9%) of them were ER positive. The G₁ (well differentiated) and G₃ (poorly differentiated) grades were equally represented. The results showed no association between the ER status and the histopathological grade of the carcinoma.