ARE BIOPSIES DANGEROUS?

14/09/2020

A biopsy is the only sure way, in other words, a valuable standard to diagnose cancers in addition to imaging tests like ultrasounds, X-rays, CT scans, MRI. These imaging tests can help identify areas of concerns but they cannot differentiate between cancerous and noncancerous cells, and cannot help figure out appropriate treatment methods.

What is a biopsy?

In some cases, your doctor may decide that a sample of your tissue or your cells is needed to diagnose an illness or identify a cancer. The removal of tissue or cells for analysis is called a biopsy.

While “a biopsy” may scare you, most are pain-free or dull-pain and low-risk procedures.

Types of biopsies

1. Bone marrow biopsy

Your doctor inserts a long needle into your hip bone if he or she suspects that you may have leukemia, myeloma, lymphoma or cancer cells from another part of the body are spreading to your bones. You may feel a dull pain during the procedure or only feel pain when the local anesthetic is injected.

2. Endoscopic biopsy

Endoscopic biopsies are used to reach tissue inside the body to gather samples from places such as the stomach, colon, bladder, lung.

3. Needle biopsies

Fine needle aspiration: Fluids and cells are drawn out to investigate their morphology and characteristics.
Core needle biopsy: By doing this procedure, tissue is extracted enough to do the immunohistochemistry test.
Image-guided biopsies are guided with imaging procedures such as ultrasounds, CT scans, MRI.
Vacuum-assisted biopsies use suction from a vacuum to collect cells.

4. Open biopsy (by skin biopsy): If you have a lesion on your skin, your doctor may use local anesthesia and remove a small piece or the whole tumor.

5. Surgical biopsy: If a tumor is in the abdomen near the aorta, your doctor may need to make an incision to examine.

Are biopsies dangerous?

Biopsies are usually safe. You have very low risk of:

Minor infection. The risk of infection that needs antibiotics is very low.
Damage to nearby organs (such as damage to the intestine when conducting surgical biopsy in the abdomen)
Bleeding. The area of concern can be wrongly diagnosed or a too small sample leads to misleading results and another sample is required. According to studies, only 5% of biopsies lead to complications.

However, biopsies are still safe procedures. Not only do they provide early and accurate diagnosis but they also assist the treatment process by helping doctors to evaluate the treatment plan.

In addition, the most important thing is to listen to your body and notice any abnormality. Every abnormal change counts.

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