Caution concerning micrometastatic breast carcinoma in sentinel lymph nodes

A pilot study by Dowlatshahi et al. observed a high (58%) incidence of micrometastases in the sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) of patients with small primary breast carcinomas when immunohistochemical preparations of serial sections of the lymph nodes were examined. The prognostic implications of these findings are unknown and, until they are, evaluating SLNs in this manner should be avoided in routine clinical practice. See also pages 990–6.