Ki67 counts according to tissue categories.

<p>WS, whole sections; CNB, core needle biopsies; TMA, tissue micro arrays.</p><p>Ki67 counts according to tissue categories.</p

Clinico-pathologic characteristics.

<p>Clinico-pathologic characteristics.</p

Box plots of tumor cell proliferation by Ki67 expression according to breast cancer molecular subgroups in different specimen categories.

<p>Horizontal lines inside the boxes represent the median value; box limits indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles; whiskers extend 1.5 times the interquartile range from the 25th and 75th percentiles.</p

Breast cancer specific survival according to Ki67 expression.

<p>Survival curves (Kaplan-Meier) are shown for Ki67 expression on WS (A); TMA (B) and CNB (C). Cut-off points at the median were applied for all specimen categories. The number of events and total number of patients in each group are shown beside the description of each curve. Numbers at risk are presented below each curve.</p

Frequency of cases in the Luminal/HER2- subgroup showing high proliferation when applying a Ki67 cutoff-point of 14% to different specimen categories.

<p>WS (<i>n</i> = 415), CNB (<i>n</i> = 125), TMA (<i>n</i> = 350).</p

Multivariate survival analysis (Cox′ proportional hazards method) using different specimen categories.

<p>HR, Hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval.</p><p>Final models after initial inclusion of age, tumor diameter, histologic grade, nodal status and Ki67.</p><p>5 cases (WS), 1 case (CNB) and 4 cases (TMA) were excluded due to missing information on lymph node status.</p>a<p>Likelihood ratio.</p>b<p>Cut-off point at the median.</p><p>Multivariate survival analysis (Cox′ proportional hazards method) using different specimen categories.</p

Kaplan-Meier curves showing the relationship between types of ENE (A), number of ENE foci (B), CD-ENE (C), PD-ENE (D) and time to first event.

<p>The number of events/number of cases in each subgroup is given in parenthesis. Abbreviations; ENE, extra-nodal extension; CD-ENE, circumferential diameter of extra-nodal extension; PD-ENE, perpendicular diameter of extra-nodal extension. One case had missing data on measurement of extra-nodal extension diameters because of extensive fat infiltration combined with inappropriate orientation of the section.</p

Univariate survival analysis of proliferation markers examined in lymph node metastases (<i>n</i> = 168).

<p>Univariate survival analysis of proliferation markers examined in lymph node metastases (<i>n</i> = 168).</p

Univariate survival analysis of features of primary tumors (<i>n</i> = 168).

<p>Univariate survival analysis of features of primary tumors (<i>n</i> = 168).</p

Proliferation markers in primary tumors and lymph node metastases.

<p>Box plots (a. and c.) Horizontal lines inside the boxes represent the median values; box limits indicate the 25^th and 75^th percentiles. Scatter plot (b. and d.) for % Ki-67 and MC in PT and LN metastasis.</p