Caption |
Mammary adenocarcinoma: this photomicrograph focuses on the papillary portions of the neoplasm. Neoplastic papillae have a slender fibrovascular core and are lined by a 2-15 cells-thick epithelium. Neoplastic cells are columnar (cells adherent to the basement membrane) to polygonal (suprabasal cells), with ill-defined cell borders and a small amount of amphophilic cytoplasm. The nucleus is oval to round, oriented in the long axis of the cell for columnar neoplastic cells, slightly hyperchromatic, and with a clumped chromatin. Numerous neoplastic cells undergo single cell necrosis and mitotic figures are numerous. Most mitoses are asymmetrical (the mitotic spindle is oriented at right angle with the basement membrane). |