Breast biopsies are recommended to rule out or confirm breast cancer. Surgical excision is the most aggressive type, while fine needle aspiration and core needle biopsy are less invasive. The removal is only part A, with laboratory analysis determining whether the tissue is cancerous. Early identification can make a huge difference in treatment.
It is perhaps one of the scariest scenarios for women. They find a lump, have other potential indicators of breast cancer, or a mammogram comes back showing unusual tissue in the breast. In most cases, doctors will recommend a breast biopsy to rule out or rule out the presence of cancer. As frightening as this recommendation may be, the biopsy itself, which harvests some of the tissue in question, is a good thing and can often show that cancer doesn’t exist. Knowing about the different types of biopsies can also help make this procedure slightly less scary.
The most aggressive form of the breast biopsy is the surgical excision of the suspicious tissue, which usually occurs with minimal twilight sleep, a type of sedation that causes profound sleepiness. Sometimes general anesthesia is used instead. Depending on the location of the lump, a surgeon will need to make a small to large incision to reach the lump, and the incision is stitched up when tissue removal is complete. These biopsies can remove all of the abnormal tissue or just a small amount. This matter may be discussed in advance between a surgeon and a patient, or it may be up to the doctor’s discretion to decide how much to remove once the lump appears.
Not all types of breast biopsy are created equal. The two types least involved are usually fine needle aspiration and core needle breast biopsy. In fine-needle aspiration, a thin needle is injected into the breast where there is a lump and a small amount of tissue or fluid is removed. Because many lumps turn out to be noncancerous cysts, this method is most often preferred, especially in patients at extremely low risk of breast cancer. Core needle breast biopsy might be considered an upgrade, where the needle is slightly thicker and can remove matter from a lump. This procedure can be guided by a variety of machines that help create an accurate path for the doctor.
Depending on which machines might be used with core needle breast tissue removal, this type of breast biopsy could happen in a number of ways. Some women need to lie on a table on their stomach while their breasts are biopsied by a surgeon or doctor underneath them. This occurs in stereotactic core needle breast biopsy, which uses mammograms to guide tissue removal, and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) guided core needle biopsies. In ultrasound or ultrasound, women typically lie on their back. Any of the core needle biopsies may require small incisions in the breast to access the lump.
In all types of breast biopsy, the removal is only part A. The second part is the laboratory analysis to determine whether the cells, fluids, or tissue found are cancerous. Tests tend to be completed in no more than a few days, although a woman should see her doctor about her when she can expect to hear the results. As stated earlier, many biopsies return normal results, but it’s also fair to say that some certainly don’t. However, identifying cancer, especially early, can make a huge difference in treatment and is the main reason women are asked to do monthly self-exams which could lead to a biopsy if a lump is found.
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