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Pathological examination of sentinel lymph node in breast cancer: potential problems and possible solutions
Syed A Hoda1, April Chiu, Erika Resetkova
1Department of Pathology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University and New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, New York 10021, USA. sahoda@mail.med.cornell.edu
Abstract:
Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy has emerged during the last few years as a viable option for staging the axilla in the treatment of breast carcinoma. This procedure can potentially identify patients who would be helped by full axillary lymph node dissection (the SLN-positive cases), and those who would not (the SLN-negative cases). Review of the literature confirms the promise of SLN; however, the possible problems in the pathological handling of SLN, including the microscopic misinterpretation of benign structures and "spurious" immunohistochemical staining, need wider recognition.