Tumor size, lesion distribution, disease extent, and intratumoral and intertumoral heterogeneity are subgross morphological parameters of breast carcinomas that are essential for proper diagnostic characterization of the disease. If assessed adequately by modern multimodality radiology and large format histopathology, all of these parameters provide significant prognostic information. The molecular phenotype categories for breast carcinomas were recently defined and their prognostic and predictive power determined. As the subgross morphological parameters and molecular phenotypes have been studied separately, their relationship with one another has not received the attention it deserves. In this review, we aim to summarize some recent advances in approaching subgross morphological parameters and report new data on their relationship to the molecular characteristics of tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]