Back to results
US 6,673,024 B2Granted
Cytological evaluation of breast duct epithelial cells retrieved by ductal lavage
OwnerAngela Soito, Britt-Marie Ljung +1inventors
InventorsAngela Soito, Britt-Marie Ljung, Karen Chew
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and systems for cytologically evaluating breast duct epithelial cells retrieved by ductal lavage by morphology and other parameters.
Claims22
A method of cytologically evaluatin epithelial cells collected from a human breast duct comprising:
- introducing a ductal access tool comprising an elongated internal lumen into the breast duct;
- infusing a fluid into the breast duct through said elongated internal lumen of said introduced ductal access tool;
- retrieving a sample including ductal epithelial cells from within said duct through said elongated internal lumen of said introduced ductal access tool;
- evaluating the ductal epithelial cells in the sample for one or more observed indicia selected from the group consisting of cell grouping, cell shape, cell size, nuclear size, nuclear shape, presence of nucleoli, absence of nucleoli, nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, vacuoles in the cytoplasm, cytoplasmic shape, cytoplasmic border, presence of anisonucleosis, absence of anisonucleosis, presence of mitotic figures, absence of mitotic figures, nuclear membrane quality, presence of necrotic debris, chromatin distribution, coarseness of chromatin, presence of microcalcifications and absence of microcalcifications;
- and
- classifying the sample as being normal, atypical or malignant based on the observed indicia.
3 more elements
A method of cytological evaluating epithelial cells collected from a human breast duct comprising:
- providing a ductal fluid sample comprising at least 500 ductal epithelial cells from a duct of a breast of a patient;
- evaluating the ductal epithelial cells in the sample for one or more observed indicia selected from the group consisting of cell grouping, cell shape, cell size, nuclear size, nuclear shape, presence of nucleoli, absence of nucleoli, nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, vacuoles in the cytoplasm, cytoplasmic shape, cytoplasmic border, presence of anisonucleosis, absence of anisonucleosis, presence of mitotic figures, absence of mitotic figures, nuclear membrane quality, presence of necrotic debris, chromatin distribution, coarseness of chromatin, presence of microcalcifications and absence of microcalcifications;
- and
- classifying the sample as being normal, atypical or maligant based on the observed indicia.
1 more element
A method of cytologically evaluating epithelial cells collected from a human breast duct comprising:
- providing a ductal fluid sample comprising at least 100 ductal pithelial cells from a duct of a breast of a patient and at least one cell clump comprising a least 10 cells from the duct;
- evaluating the ductal epithelial cells in the sample for one or more observed indicia selected from the group consisting of cell grouping, cell shape, cell size, nuclear size, nuclear shape, presence of nucleoli, absence of nucleoli, nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, vacuoles in the cytoplasm, cytoplasmic shape, cytoplasmic border, presence of anisonucleosis, absence of anisonucleosis, presence of mitotic figures, absence of mitotic figures, nuclear membrane quality, presence of necrotic debris, chromatin distribution, coarseness of chromatin, presence of microcalcifications and absence of microcalcifications;
- and
- classifying the sample as being normal, atypical or malignant based on the observed indicia.
1 more element
A method of cytologically evaluating epithelial cells collected from a human breast duct comprising:
- introducing a ductal access tool comprising an elongated internal lumen into the breast duct;
- infusing a fluid into the breast duct through said elongated internal lumen of said introduced ductal access tool;
- retrieving a sample from within said duct through said elongated internal lumen of said introduced ductal access tool, said sample including at least one hundred ductal epithelial cells;
- evaluating the ductal epithelial cells in the retrieved sample for one or more observed indicia selected from the group consisting of cell grouping, cell shape, cell size, nuclear size, nuclear shape, presence of nucleoli, absence of nucleoli, nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, vacuoles in the cytoplasm, cytoplasmic shape, cytoplasmic border, presence of anisonucleosis, absence of anisonucleosis, presence of mitotic figures, absence of mitotic figures, nuclear membrane quality, presence of necrotic debris, chromatin distribution, coarseness of chromatin, presence of microcalcifications and absence of microcalcifications;
- and
- classifying the cells of the retrieved sample as being normal, atypical or malignant based on the observed indicia.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.