Cancer Diagnosis
Biopsy
Your doctor may refer you to a surgeon or breast disease specialist for a biopsy. Fluid or tissue is removed from your breast to help find out if there is cancer.
Some suspicious areas can be seen on a mammogram but cannot be felt during a clinical breast exam. Doctors can use imaging procedures to help see the area and
remove tissue. Such procedures include ultrasound-guided, needle-localized, or stereotactic biopsy.
Doctors can remove tissue from the breast in different ways:
- Fine-needle aspiration: Your doctor uses a thin needle to remove fluid from a breast lump. If the fluid appears to contain cells, a pathologist at a lab checks them for cancer with a microscope. If the fluid is clear, it may not need to be checked by a lab.
- Core biopsy: Your doctor uses a thick needle to remove breast tissue. A pathologist checks for cancer cells. This procedure is also called a needle biopsy.
- Surgical biopsy: Your surgeon removes a sample of tissue. A pathologist checks the tissue for cancer cells.
- An incisional biopsy takes a sample of a lump or abnormal area.
- An excisional biopsy takes the entire lump or area.
If cancer cells are found, the pathologist can tell what kind of cancer it is. The most common type of breast cancer is ductal carcinoma. Abnormal cells are found in the lining of the ducts. Lobular carcinoma is another type. Abnormal cells are found in the lobules.
You may want to ask your doctor the following questions before having a biopsy:
- What kind of biopsy will I have? Why?
- How long will it take? Will I be awake? Will it hurt? Will I have anesthesia? What kind?
- Are there any risks? What are the chances of infection or bleeding after the biopsy?
- How soon will I know the results?
If I do have cancer, who will talk with me about the next steps? When?
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