Displaced Epithelium in Breast Pathology: A Review

Background: Although iatrogenic displacement of epithelial cells after breastinstrumentation is a well-documented phenomenon, it is usually underdiagnosed.Misinterpretation of this issue results in overtreatment of patients in some instances.Additionally, the hazard of tumor seeding and dissemination after needling is aconcern to both clinicians and patients. Both issues are addressed in this narrativereview.Methods: We searched PubMed for abstracts of English-language publicationsusing keywords “needle track/tract” and “displaced epithelium/epithelialdisplacement/iatrogenic displacement,” which resulted in ۴۳۹ records restricted tohuman subjects. We read all the abstracts and selected ۲۷ manuscripts with the mostrelevance.Results: There are some histopathologic features that can be useful indifferentiating between epithelial displacement and real invasion/metastasis. Therisk of seeding or metastasis after needling is shown to be trivial. Factors militatingagainst the growth of dislodged cells are also discussed.Conclusion: Epithelial displacement is an important issue in breast pathologythat should be considered in every patient with a history of breast instrumentation.

Keywords:

Breast , displaced epithelium , iatrogenic , histopathology