DIGITAL Vs MANUAL ASSESSMENT OF Ki67 IN BREAST CARCINOMA PATIENTS A HOSPITAL BASED STUDY

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Ki67 antigen is widely used as a proliferation marker in breast carcinoma. Expression of this nuclear protein (pKi67) is associated with the proliferative activity of intrinsic cell populations in tumours, allowing it to be used as a marker of tumour aggressiveness. The Ki67 protein is substantially used as a prognostic and predictive marker for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Ki67's value for treatment methods is restricted by its uncertain analytical validity. Ki67 might be a useful prognostic marker, but the available information is still sparse and inconsistent. The clinical use of Ki67 IHC in breast cancer treatment is now restricted to determining prognosis in cases of stage I or stage II breast cancer. Digital pathology with advancements in automated scoring could help to overcome the current restrictions in standardization of Ki67, thereby reducing inter and intra-pathologist variability and accrediting automation to amplify routine practise and thus improving reliability and reproducibility of the results. OBJECTIVES: 1.To compare Digital Vs Manual Assessment of Ki67 in histologically diagnosed cases of breast carcinoma 2.To correlate Ki67 expression with clinic-pathological parameters.