Generality
Breast biopsy is a procedure that allows the histological analysis of breast tissue, performed on small portions of tissue taken from a lump or from a suspected area.
Breast biopsy is performed under ultrasound or mammography guidance, by introducing a cutting needle or making an incision into the breast, until the suspicious formation is reached from which the sample is collected for analysis in the laboratory. histological examination, the specialist doctor will decide whether to proceed with further investigations and / or will establish the most appropriate therapeutic path for the case.
What is that?
Breast biopsy consists in the removal of breast tissue material in the form of small cylindrical frustules, taken from the area of the breast where an anomaly or a suspected neoplastic formation has been identified. The material thus collected is then subjected to histological examination (study of the characteristics of a tissue under an optical microscope) or to other laboratory tests.
Breast biopsy is usually performed after a non-diagnostic (inadequate or unrepresentative) cytology sample or if there is a discrepancy between the pathological specialist's report and that of the radiologist or surgeon.
The purpose of this procedure is, in fact, to define with greater precision and reliability the nature and histopathological characteristics of the tissue under examination, excluding or confirming the diagnosis of malignant breast cancer.
Breast biopsy therefore allows you to indicate the most appropriate therapeutic approaches for each individual case and, if an intervention is necessary, allows you to better plan the type of surgical operation to be performed to gain access to the neoplasm.
What is it for?
Breast biopsy is a method frequently used in the oncology field, in order to exclude any diagnostic doubts and obtain a response as precise as possible.
Usually, this procedure is indicated in cases where a lump, thickening or "suspicious area of breast tissue is found on palpation and interpretation of the mammography or ultrasound picture, and in cases in which the" cytological examination (fine needle aspiration) does not provide sufficiently reliable information on the nature of this anomaly.
Breast tissue sampling makes it possible to distinguish a "benign alteration (as in the case of cysts and fibroadenomas) from a lesion of a malignant nature (carcinoma or other tumors), establishing the pathology in progress. In addition to histological evaluation, breast biopsy allows also to define the functional characteristics of the lesion (such as biological activity and possible invasiveness).
Breast biopsy may also be indicated in the presence of: serous or blood secretions from the nipples; unusual changes in the skin and areola of one or both breasts (dimpled, orange-peel skin, swelling, redness or warmth) and unwarranted pain in the breast or armpit.
In most cases, the sample is taken under ultrasound guidance (ie with the use of ultrasound) or radiography (in the case of mammography), to better locate the suspected lesion and reach the target exactly.
