"COMPARISON BETWEEN NUMBER OF NERVE FIBERS IN NORMAL BREAST TISSUE, BENIGN LESIONS AND MALIGNANT BREAST TUMORS"

Abstract

Breast cancer is common and is considered second cause of cancer related mortality in females. Regarding importance of breast cancer, more investigation in this field is recommended. For many years investigators believed that neoplasms were not innervated but new findings have proved otherwise. This descriptive study was carried out to compare number of nerve fibers in benign, malignant and normal breast tissue. Of each group several slides were reviewed and 3608.50 mm2 of malignant tumors (ductal carcinoma), 3641 mm2 of benign tumors (fibroadenoma) and 2331.25 mm2 of normal breast tissue (mammoplasty) were assessed. Numbers of nerve fibers were compared and a significant increase in nerve fibers was found in malignant tumors compared with benign tumors and normal breast tissue. Accuracy of hematoxylin and eosin method were examined by immunohistochemistry staining (neurofilament) method and affirmed. These results reveal that malignant tumors of breast have more nerve fibers than normal breast tissue or benign tumors.