IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF LYMPH-NODE MICROMETASTASES FROM BREAST-CANCER

The lymph node micrometastasis was retrospectively immunohistochemical ly investigated in 185 patients with node-negative breast cancer and c ompared with the routine conventional findings. The monoclonal antibod ies to epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and mucinous-like carcinoma a ntigen (MCA) were used. Of 19 EMA-positive cases, 16 were false positi ve. Therefore only 3 cases were found to show staining with both EMA a nd MCA. The patients are all living and well and free of recurrence. N o micrometastasis was immunhistochemically demonstrated in 11 node-neg ative breast cancer patients with subsequent metastases. The results o f the present study indicate that the detection rate containing occult cells afforded by conventional routine evaluation is sufficient, at l east in Japanese.