Comparing Two Staining Methods of hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemistry on the Differentiation of Proliferative and Neoplastic Lesions in Breast Biopsies Based on the Coefficient of two pathologist Agreement

Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women, various studies have investigated the significance of hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in breast cancer, but there are always differences between studies in this case. Therefore, in this study, we compared two methods of staining of (H & E) and IHC on the differentiation of proliferative and neoplastic lesions in breast biopsy based on the agreement coefficient.

In this cross-sectional study, 81 breast biopsy specimens were carried out on patients with proliferative and neoplastic lesions who presented Alzahra, Seyedoshohada and Kashani hospitals in Isfahan over the five years, 2015-2019. The specimens were observed by two pathologists using H & E and IHC staining, and their level of agreement was measured using the kappa coefficient.

According to the kappa test, the agreement between the pathologists was significant regarding H & E staining (P <0.001, Kappa = 0.82) and IHC staining (P <0.001, Kappa = 0.95).

Both methods of IHC and H & E staining are standard methods and have scientific value. Moreover, the agreement level between the two pathologists was direct and significant in both methods, but the agreement level between the two pathologists in the IHC method was more than the H & E method.