Breast Biopsy Procedure Types & Surgical Care

For knowing about any tissue in the breast which has some abnormal change, a mammogram is used. However. Whether a breast tissue is malignant or not can only be known through breast biopsy. The process in which a part or whole of an abnormal tissue is removed from the breast for checking it in the laboratory is known as breast biopsy. Sometime back doctors used to do biopsy and mastectemoy in a single procedure. The patient used to stay anesthetized till doctors received results. If doctors founded the lump malignant then they used to do mastectomy. At present, both these processes are rarely done in a single surgical procedure.

Different types of breast biopsy include axillary node dissection, needle aspiration, open excitional biopsy and sentinel node dissection. One of these types is chosen by the doctors while keeping several factors like location, size and features of the lump in mind. Irrespective of the fact that lump is palpable or not, open excitional biopsy is done while the patient is anesthetized. In this type of biopsy, surgeon removes part of or complete affected tissue. After this, suturing is done. This kind of surgery only takes around 30 minutes. In case the doctor is unable to feel the lump then the surgery may take more time because then the lump is sighted by a process known as needle localization.



If we talk about the surgical care related to breast biopsy then the bandage may be removed after 24 hours of surgery. However, if the doctor has placed a drain during the surgery then he will open your bandage in the clinic. One should not wash the area where incision is done with soap. If you see any kind of redness, swelling and tenderness then you may relate them to some kind of infection. Before a patient undergoes open excitional biopsy, he should inform the doctor if he consumes any kind of drugs which performs the task of blood thinning. After biopsy, the patient may experience some pain but it ends up in few days.