False negative SLN biopsy?

It is quite probable that the 8 nodes removed 10 months ago were indeed negative. It is also quite possible that the node being biopsied now is also negative. 'Suspicious' is just that 'suspicious' - that does automatically equate to either positive or negative. A 10 month time frame since last biopsy does not mean it was not accurate at that time. A lot can (and often does) change in month (or even days) with BC.

Yes I had false negatives. I had one node that was biopsied twice prior to surgery. First time surgeon missed, no lymph cells. Second time they got it and it came back negative. Second negative was in surgery during the operation when I had three nodes removed including the suspicious one. It came back positive once it was sent to outside pathology with micromets and a second lymph node that was not suspicious with an isolated tumor cell. If your removed nodes were sent out after surgery though I'd imagine the false negative rate would be fairly low.

catlady...the way my BS explained it is that there are nodes within nodes. So they may think they are taking out one but when sent to pathology they realize there are more. Good luck to all.

If you had a mastectomy, they may be counting up the intramammary nodes as well as the sentinel nodes. That means the lymph nodes that are inside the removed breast tissue, not just the nodes in your armpit.