Abstract
This paper describes four cases of occult carcinoma of the breast, which were found due to metastatic axillary lymph nodes. Two cases were diagnosed from the biopsy of lymph nodes, and histopathologically defined. One case was suspected from histopathologically defined aspiration biopsy cytology of lymph nodes. The other case (37-year-old woman) was not, however, diagnosed as suspected from the biopsy of lymph nodes, which revealed anaplastic metastatic adenocarcinoma with squamoid cells. This patient had thyroid cysts, colon polyps, and an ovarian cyst but no primary lesion of the bilateral breasts. As a result of this examination, we speculate that the axillary lymph nodes had metastasis from breast cancer of the same side. In conclusion, positive biopsy of lymph nodes is very important in the diagnosis of occult carcinoma of the breast.
