Table 2.

Treatment protocols and distribution of histopathological findings obtained from pre-treatment core biopsies in patients with no response (pNR) and with complete and partial response (pCR + pPR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in 490 cases

	pNR (n = 74)			pCR + pPR (n = 416)			p values
	Number of cases	Total %	Valid %	Number of cases	Total %	Valid %
Treatment protocols
with taxanes	42	56.8	57.5	217	52.2	53.2	0.693
without taxanes	24	32.4	32.9	111	26.7	27.2
with Herceptin	7	9.5	9.6	80	19.2	19.6
Unknown	1	1.4		8	1.9
Grade
1	6	8.1	8.3	27	6.5	6.9	0.007
2	48	64.9	66.7	189	45.4	48.3
3	18	24.3	25.0	175	42.1	44.8
Unknown	2	2.7		25	6.0
ER score
Positive	60	81.1	81.1	261	62.7	62.7	0.002
Negative	14	18.9	18.9	155	37.3	37.3
Unknown	0	0.0		0	0.0
PgR score
Positive	53	71.6	71.6	219	52.6	52.8	0.003
Negative	21	28.4	28.4	196	47.1	47.2
Unknown	0	0.0		1	0.2
PGR cut-off
<20 %	30	40.5	40.5	249	59.9	60.1	0.002
≥ 20 %	44	59.5	59.5	165	39.7	39.9
Unknown	0	0.0		2	0.5
HER2 score
Positive	8	10.8	11.1	93	22.4	22.9	0.027
Negative	64	86.5	88.9	314	75.5	77.1
Unknown	2	2.7		9	2.2
Lobular
Yes	14	18.9	19.2	24	5.8	5.8	<0.001
No	59	79.7	80.8	389	93.5	94.2
Unknown	1	1.4		3	0.7
Inflammation
TILs present	23	31.1	51.1	229	55.0	77.4	<0.001
TILs absent	22	29.7	48.9	67	16.1	22.6
Unknown	29	39.2		120	28.8
St-TILs score
>1%	16	21.6	36.4	189	45.4	63.9	0.001
≤1%	28	37.8	63.6	107	25.7	36.1
Unknown	30	40.5		120	28.8
Necrosis
Present	19	25.7	42.2	107	25.7	36.1	0.508
Absent	26	35.1	57.8	189	45.4	63.9
Unknown	29	39.2		120	28.8