Axillary Sentinel Lymph Nodes Can Be Falsely Positive Due to Iatrogenic Displacement and Transport of Benign Epithelial Cells in Patients With Breast Carcinoma

Abstract

Epithelial cells in SLNs may result from transport of displaced cells, usually originating in intraductal papillomas. Positive immunohistochemical results in SLNs should be interpreted with extreme caution to avoid automatically concluding that such cells represent metastasis. Sentinel lymph nodes in breast carcinoma can be falsely positive.