Diagnostic Surgery
When a patient has an abnormality in her breast that is suspicious and thought to be benign, a surgical biopsy may be needed. Suspicious areas in a breast may be lumps caused by fibrocystic changes or fibroadenomas. Or there may be an area seen on a mammogram that can't be diagnosed with a needle biopsy and therefore requires a surgical biopsy. Whatever the reason, some diagnostic surgical treatments, such as those outlined below, can provide an enhanced diagnosis and eliminate the question of the unknown.
Open Biopsy with PreOperative Localization
When there is a suspicious area seen in a mammogram that cannot be felt in the breast tissue, a surgical biopsy with preoperative localization may be performed. Using local anesthesia, a radiologist inserts a wire into the breast to the area that needs to be biopsied. A surgeon will then follow the wire as a guide and remove the suspicious tissue along with the wire.
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Surgical Biopsy
A surgical biopsy, sometimes called open biopsy, is the way that your surgeon will evaluate a breast lump or suspicious area that was located on your mammogram. A surgical biopsy can be performed on any area that can be felt or only seen on mammogram. The procedure is performed by a surgeon in the operating room at the hospital; it is most often an outpatient procedure.
If you are having an excisional biopsy, your doctor is going to remove all of the suspicious area. If you are having an incisional biopsy, your doctor is going to remove part of the suspicious area. The tissue collected will be sent to a pathologist who is an expert at analyzing breast tissue. The results will be available within a couple of days and will be given directly to your surgeon by the pathologist.
Go to Newly Diagnosed? to learn more about how to read a Pathology Report.
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