Occult axillary lymph node metastases discovered by serial section in node-negative breast cancer

Abstract

Serial sectioning of the axillary lymph nodes from lymph node-negative breast cancer patients is presented. All patients were admitted between 1997-1998 and underwent mastectomy and axillary node dissection. The histological examination revealed micrometastases in 5 (10%) of 50 breast cancer subjects. The detection of these micrometastases in lymph nodes may identify a high-risk node-negative population. The time and money that was spent to detect the micrometastases was too high to perform it in every case. The clinician should be aware of the occult micrometastases in node-negative cases.