Breast biopsy is the only test that enables precise diagnosis of breast changes. They are performed to evaluate any suspicious changes detected during mammography or during breast self-examination. A biopsy involves taking tissue for histopathological examination. Determines whether the changes in the breasts are benign or if it is breast cancer.

Breast biopsyis a test to help detect breast cancer. A breast biopsy can be performed in an operating room or on an outpatient basis in a minimally invasive manner. There are four types of breast biopsy - surgical (open), fine-needle and large-needle, and mammotomy.

Surgical biopsy (open - OSB)

Surgical biopsy involves removing the lesion from the breast under general or local anesthesia. It is performed to remove benign nodules and cysts. Less frequently, it is used to remove a malignant lesion.

The treatment consists in making a small incision in the skin over the lesion. Then the lesion is cut out and the wound is sutured.

After the procedure, the patient returns to the hospital ward. She may leave the hospital 2-3 hours after waking up.

This type of biopsy gives 100% accuracy of the diagnosis, but women often complain of pain, scarring and deformation of the breasts.

Fine Needle Biopsy (BAC)

Fine-needle biopsy involves collecting the lesion with a thin needle (0.6-0.7 mm) under local anesthesia. The indications for its performance are the detection of a benign lesion in imaging tests, local recurrence of cancer. Alternatively, it can be performed in order to diagnose tumors of local and regional advancement, to obtain material for determining the state of receptors (ER, PgR) in breast cancer. In addition, it is also used medicinally, as it can be used to release fluid from the cyst.

A doctor uses an ultrasound to see a suspicious change in the breast and then inserts a thin needle into it. The material collected in this way is spread on a laboratory slide, smeared and then properly preserved. Then it is secured in a dry container and sent for microscopic examination.

The method is quick and not very burdensome, but it is not accurate (it is estimated that approx. 20% of the results are false!). With the help of a thin needle, you can download for examinationonly cellular material, which is absolutely insufficient for a correct, complete and unambiguous diagnostic assessment.

Breast cancer - how to detect it?

According to an expertdr n.med. Jacek Tulimowski, obstetrician gynecologist

Biopsy is not dangerous

This belief comes from the past, when it was said that "cancer is afraid of a knife". And if he is afraid, it runs deep into the body, so it is better not to cut it. This is bullshit. Several decades ago, when oncological surgeries were performed too late, when cancer had already wreaked havoc on the body, when there were no such methods and therapies as now, yes, it happened that the patient died during the procedure. But a biopsy is a necessary diagnostic procedure, especially if you suspect cancer of the breast, cervix, vulva. The result is obtained after a few days and can be operated within 2 weeks. So, even if the cancer cells were to scatter after the biopsy, they would not have had time to do so that it would harm the patient more than if the biopsy had not been done and all diagnostics would be significantly delayed.

Core needle biopsy (BG)

Core-needle biopsy involves taking three or six thin tissue sections 1.5-2 cm long from the breast under local anesthesia with a needle. Due to the fact that single tissue samples are collected several times, this examination requires several punctures.

It is most often performed when the fine needle biopsy results are inconclusive.

Contrary to FNAB, core-needle biopsy allows you to collect larger amounts of tissue, and thus - gives better opportunities to assess the collected tissues.

Mammotomy biopsy

Mammotomy biopsy is one of the most modern methods of diagnosing breast cancer. It consists in collecting a fragment of a suspicious lesion using the vacuum method. The doctor inserts the needle into the breast lesion, and then its fragment is sucked into a special hole in the needle and sent for histopathological examination. It is performed on an outpatient basis (it takes about 20-30 minutes). After the procedure, the patient can go home immediately.

Tobreast examinationallows for very precise diagnosis of changes in the breast. Only slight local anesthesia is used, no sutures are applied, only a plaster and pressure dressing, which are removed after 1 day (therefore after a mammotonic biopsy), the patient does not complain of scars.

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