3D architecture of Ductal Carcinoma in situ from image reconstructions

Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a pre-invasive carcinoma of the breast that exhibits several distinct morphologies. The staging of the disease is often based on 2-dimensional (2D) slices from tissue samples stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Therefore, much of the 3-dimensional (3D) structure of the carcinoma is unknown. We develop a method for producing 3D reconstructions of DCIS specimens from serial sections. This includes an alignment, duct segmentation, cribra segmentation and 3D reconstruction method. Our results show that there are different 3D architectures of cribriform DCIS classified by 2D histological slices. We conclude that the 3D morphology of the disease is complex and may provide additional clinical information than the classical 2D approach.