Abnormal Mammogram – What Now?
Monday, February 22nd, 2010It’s 10am on a Tuesday morning. You are getting ready for a meeting with your team when a phone call comes in for you…from your health care provider. It seems your routine annual mammogram has found a small spot that needs further evaluation. Now what?
No doubt about it, an abnormal mammogram is a scary thing. The first thing you should remember is that 80 percent of these lumps turn out to be benign, meaning they are not cancerous. However, it’s prudent for your health care provider to arrange for you to have a biopsy done to insure that your spot does indeed fall into that 80%.
What’s a biopsy? A biopsy is a procedure that allows for tissue to be removed and tested for cancer. In many cases, the produced for taking tissue results in little to no pain and there is minimal to no scarring involved.
There are for main types of breast biopsies that are done.
Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB) – This is the least invasive form of biopsy. The FNAB uses a tiny needle that is inserted directly into the lump. The content of the lump is then pulled back into the needle and syringe and the whole thing is withdrawn. In many cases, done properly, these procedures are painless, leave no scarring, and can be done in your providers office. Best of all, results can be ready in a few days.
Core Needle Biopsy (CNB) – The needle involved is a bit larger, with a bit of discomfort. The needle is again guided into the lump and the sample is obtained just like the FNAB. Again, the results are available in just a few days – often in 48 hours.
(more…)
