It has been proposed that hypoxia favors the growth of tumor cells over normal cells, particularly tumor cells carrying TP53 mutations. Cytogenetic studies of breast cancer have shown that highly complex karyotypes seen in direct harvest preparations are rarely detected after short-term culture. In this study, 34 paired samples of breast carcinomas and grossly nontumorous tissue from the same breast were cultured at 20 and 5% (12 samples) or 20 and 0% oxygen (22 samples). Both carcinoma samples and nontumorous tissue survived at 0% oxygen. Recovery for 24 hours at 20% produced good yields for cytogenetic analysis. Lower oxygen levels did not specifically stimulate growth of tumor cells. Samples with TP53 mutations showed a consistently increased growth under anaerobic hypoxic conditions. Culture at 5% oxygen did not generally reveal more karyotypic abnormalities than found at 20%. In the samples cultured at 0 and 20%, karyotypic abnormalities were detected only in anaerobic hypoxic culture in two cases. Of the only four samples where more complex karyotypes were detected in the low-oxygen culture, two were TP53 mutated. Hypoxic treatment followed by recovery at 20% oxygen may thus increase the yield of complex karyotypes from a subset of breast carcinomas, particularly those with mutated TP53.