Subareolar injection: A potential cause of false negative in the selective biopsy of the sentinel node in breast cancer

Sentinel node biopsy has become the standard practice for lymph node staging in early stage breast cancer. However, uncertainty remains regarding the best method of radiotracer/dye injection. Currently, the subareolar injection is being widely used because of its technical simplicity and higher rates of SN location versus the so-called deep techniques (peritumoral, intratumoral) that require greater specialization and greater use of resources in the non-palpable lesions.

We present a case of a discrepancy between both techniques that could have caused a false negative.