Table 7 Summary of selected studies investigating differential features of fibroadenomas and phyllodes tumors on pre-operative materials

Jacobs [16]

16 FAs

12 PTs

Histology

Immunohistochemistry

Stromal cellularity, mitoses, expression of Ki-67 and topoisomerase IIα might help determining phyllodes tumors

Lee [11]

38 FAs

44 PTs

Histology

Features indicating phyllodes tumors:

(1) increased stromal cellularity in at least 50 % of the specimen; (2) stromal overgrowth; (3)fragmentation and; 4) presence of adipose tissue within stroma

Jara-Lazaro [15]

21 FAs

36 PTs

Histology

Immunohistochemistry

(1) Marked stromal hypercellularity and nuclear atypia, stromal overgrowth, and ill-defined lesional margins exclusively predicted phyllodes tumor on excision.

(2) Expression of Ki67 ≥ 5 %, topoisomerase IIα ≥ 5 % and reduced CD34 correlates significantly with phyllodes tumors.

Morgan [12]

91^a FAs

21 PTs

Histology

Proposed two putative predictive tools:

(1) Logit P(x) = − 0.9014 (age) − 3.61 (mitosis) + 11.156

(2) Z = 0.8909(age) + 0.0347(% stroma) + 0.5274 (mitoses/10HPF)

Yasir [13]

37 FAs

27 PTs

Histology

Stromal mitoses and/or three or more histological features were helpful in predicting phyllodes tumors on excisions.