Biopsy

• A very thin needle is used to draw fluid or cells from a lump. Slides are made and sent to the pathologist for evaluation.
• Fine needle aspiration biopsy is often used to differentiate solid from cystic abnormalities in the breast.
• It can be done with or without ultrasound guidance.

If an abnormality is cystic, aspiration biopsy may be therapeutic in completely resolving the cyst. No anesthesia is necessary.

• Ultrasound is used to guide a needle into an abnormality.
• Several cylindrical cores of tissue are removed.
• Pathologists evaluate the tissue and can tell us if the abnormality is cancer or a benign process.
• Core biopsy is done with local anesthesia in the office.

• Injection of radiolabeled dye around the areola on the breast with known cancer.
• The dye is taken up the lymphatic channels in the breast and is carried to the first few lymph nodes that drain the breast in the axilla.
• A gamma probe (pictured to the right) is used to identify the lymph nodes that have taken up the most dye.
• If there is no cancer in the sentinel lymph node, no further lymph nodes are taken.
• If there are cancer cells identified in the sentinel lymph node, then additional axillary lymph nodes are removed (axillary lymph node dissection).

We utilize a state of the art vacuum-assisted biopsy device that allows us to obtain just the right amount of breast tissue for a definitive diagnosis without surgery. Sampling tiny abnormalities makes early detection and accurate diagnosis easier.

The patient receives a small amount of local anesthesia while lying on a specialized mammography table. The biopsy probe, guided by a stereotactic digital x-ray image, is placed in the area of the breast designated as abnormal. Multiple tissue samples are removed. Since a minute skin nick is required to introduce the biopsy device, only a tiny scar will result. A physician and technologist will be with you at all times.

Stereotactic biopsy uses local anesthesia, requires no sutures, causes little pain, and can be performed quickly at Montclair Breast Center.

Outpatient, same day surgery procedure.

A small piece of abnormal tissue is removed surgically to aid in diagnosis of breast abnormalities.

Can be done with local anesthesia with or without sedation in our private ambulatory surgical center in our building.

Excisional biopsy is rarely performed as a primary diagnostic procedure as most breast abnormalities are amenable to minimally invasive needle biopsies.

In certain situations, excisional biopsy is required for primary diagnostic purposes for abnormalities that cannot be accessed via minimally invasive needle techniques, e.g., the abnormality is too far back near the chest wall; the breast is too small to accommodate the needle required for biopsy.