340 The Breast 2/neu oncogene protein, anti-human endothelial cell CD31 antigen, estrogenic and progestinic receptor status. These results indicate that TC- 99m MIBI scintigraphy may provide useful additional information in the assessment of the response to Neo-CT in locally advanced breast cancer. P937. Primary chemotherapy for large-sized operable breast cancer does not make axillary dissection superfluous C Botti, P Vici, F Cavaliere,F Conti, A Psaila,M Cosimelli, F Di Filippo, AF Scinto, R Cavaliere Istituto Tumori Regina Elena, Rome, Italy The aim of this study was to evaluate the independent prognostic role of surgical node staging in 70 women presenting with large but resectable carcinoma of the breast who received 3 cycles of preoperative antracycline based chemotherapy and in whom mastectomy was the conventional option. Patients who had a good clinical response to induction systemic, treatment received the same chemotherapy in the adjuvant phase, while those whose response was less than optimal received alternative adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. A multivariate analysis was made to evaluate the relative influence on disease-free survival rates including clinical response to primary chemotherapy, primary pathological (p-T) staging, and the number of metastatic lymph nodes. At a median follow-up of 48 months only the number of metastatic lymph nodes was found to be an indepen- dent predictor of relapse (p < 0.001). Clinical and mammographic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy as well as p-T staging did not correlate with prognosis. These findings suggest that axillary dissection should be con- sidered a fundamental step in the multimodal treatment of carcinoma of the breast in order to identify subgroups of patients with a highly unfavourable prognosis that may benefit from alternative treatments in the adjuvant setting. Multivariate analysis (Cox model) of prognostic variables (disease free survival) Variable Initial P value Final P value Goodness of fit Menopausal status 0.76 c-T staging 0.15 .. c-N staging 0.01 . Tumour site 0.17 .. Response 0.33 0.001 Chemotherapy regimen 0.56 .. Histology 0.80 1. ER status 0.56 . Type of operation 0.21 .. P- T staging 0.18 .. No. of metastatic 0.00001 0.00001 lymph nodes P938. One day surgery for breast lumps and microcalcifications L Regolo, C Amanti, A Lombardi, A Antonaci, M Assenza, M Di Paola IVth Surgical Dept, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy Day care breast surgery offers economic benefits, practical and psycological advantages for patients. In our experience of a breast service a great number of cases need diag- nostic procedures that include surgical biopsy: breast lump, microcalcifi- cations, papillomas. etc. Day care surgery can be performed in all these cases at a minor cost and a faster procedure. Local anesthesia is preferred combined with either a benzodiazepine or propofolol. Microcalcification and nonpalpable breast lesions excision need the placement of a localising wire by X-ray or ultrasound mammography and this can be placed on the same day of surgery, reducing the risks of a movement, From January 1995 we have performed 150 breast excisions for the following pathologies: l Microcalcitications l Nonpalpable lumps l Fibroadenomas l Ductal papilloma l Male ginecomastia l Tissue expander substitution l Areola-Nipple complex reconstruction Surgical procedure time varied from 15 to 30 minutes, and patients could be discharged after two hours even in casesin which it is necessary to place a little drain that can be removed after one or two days. From a technical point of view local excision was achieved with lower costs and in one or two days the final histological result is available. P939. Prognostic significance of C-erbB-2 expression in relation with tumour size, differentiation and nodal status in breast cancer A Kokkofitis, A Varatsos Leivaditou, V Tallas, N Miligos, A Manouras, V Golematis Surgical Department, Ippokration General Hospital University of Athens and Surgical Department Panarcadic General Hospital, Tripolis, Greece Various studies have reported a relationship between c-erbB-2 expression and established prognostic indicators, as well as the clinical course in breast cancer patients. In this report sixty paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissue samples were analysed for expression of the c-erbB-2 oncogene by immunoperoxidase -avidin-biotin technique. C-erbB-2 cell membrane staining was observed in 31% of the cases and was found to be related to tumour size 36,6%, histopathological tumour type and grate 57% and node-positive patients 33,3%. In this, study immunohistochemical expression of the c-erbB-2 proto- oncogene product was correlated to tumour characteristics associated with unfavourable clinical outcome. P940. Prostate-specific antigen immunoreactivity in breast gross cystic fluids and nipple aspirates A Cardinali, F Mannello, F Marcheggiani, G Bianchi, M Malatesta,M Sebastiani, S Papa,G Gazzanelli 1st. di Istologia e Analisi Laboratori, e 1st. SC. Morfologiche, lJniversit& Urbino, Italia; Laboratorio Analisi, Ospedale Civile, Urbino; Centro di Senologia, AUSL 2, Pesaro, Italy Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a 33 kDa serine protease with homology to glandular kallikrein, is a single-chain glycoprotein widely used as a marker of prostate disease status. Several reports have recently indicated that PSA may be present in many steroid hormone-stimulated epithelial cells other than that of the male prostate. In particular, breast tumour cell lines treated with steroid hormone receptor agonists, as well as normal and tumour breast tissues have recently been found to contain PSA, suggesting new biological roles (molecular marker for hormone responsiveness and