Breast Biopsy for Breast Cancer: Things You Need to Know

After having a self-exam to the breasts, you may discover some abnormal lumps or mammogram. Many people might become panic and draw a terrible scene of cancer. To make sure about your health condition, you may need to get a breast biopsy. In this procedure, the doctor will pick a small piece of breast tissue to test at the lab.

What is a Breast Biopsy?

Everybody can have breast lumps in their life, but not all of them are cancerous. There are several factors that can cause lumps or growths in the breast. To identify whether your breast lumps are benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous), the physician will have to get you taken several tests including breast biopsy. A breast biopsy is simply a medical procedure to evaluate a suspicious lump or breast condition that could possibly lead to breast cancer. This procedure is conducted by taking a tiny sample of breast tissue and sending it to the lab for checking and evaluating.

There are three types of biopsies:

• Fine-needle aspiration,
• Core-needle biopsy,
• Surgical biopsy.

Fine-needle aspiration

Fine-needle aspiration is considered the simplest breast biopsy type. Doctors use this when the lump is likely to be filled with fluid and can easily felt during a breast exam. During this procedure, you need to lie on a table that has an opening for the breast. Your doctors will slowly detect the lump in one hand while use the other hand to pick a fine needle to the lump. Occasionally, an ultrasound is used to help the healthcare provider guide the needle to the exact site. As the result, your lumps should collapse once the fluid inside has been drawn and discarded. The needle is connected to a syringe in order to collect a sample of fluid or cell from the lump. Therefore, fine-needle aspiration is also the quickest procedure to identify whether your lump is a full-filled cyst or a solid mass. This will help you avoid taking any further biopsy test.

Core-needle biopsy

A core-needle biopsy is used to remove a small amount of breast tissue that’s visible on a mammogram by a large core needle or a hollow needle. For the procedure, your doctor might insert an extremely small marker inside your breast in order to locate the suspicious breast lumps. After that, they will use a hollow, thin needle to pick up breast tissue samples from the breast lumps with ultrasound guidance. Then, several tissue samples will be collected and analyzed so that the doctor could identify the exact cause of the breast lumps. Occasionally, no imaging equipment is used, the physician will use another the biopsy procedure called a freehand core-needle biopsy.

Surgical biopsy

Surgical biopsy is a medical procedure conducted to remove a portion of the breast mass or entire breast mass for examination. To perform a surgical biopsy, the doctors will use sedation given through the hand or arm vein along with a local anesthetic to numb your breast.

If you have to undergo a breast biopsy, a tiny stainless steel marker will be inserted at the biopsy site of your breast. Nonsurgical biopsies tend to be less stressful and minimize the risk of complications.