Increase in Tumor Growth After Biopsy?

Lexica

Hi, All - I was diagnosed with Stage IIIC IDC in July 2017 (after two trips to breast care center in Nov 2016 and Mar 2017 to get the lump checked with nothing showing on mammo or US). I was wondering if anyone experienced fast growth of their tumor after the biopsy. My tumor was palpably less than 5 cm before biopsy, but grew to over 10 cm after needle core biopsy.

Cpeachymom

Sorry you're here. My first breast surgeon explained it to me as the palpable lump is the main portion of your tumor, but it could have little "arms" stretching outward that we can't feel but that would be counted as the final tumor size. Maybe that is why yours was so much larger? Just throwing it out as a possibility

MTwoman

It's also possible that a hematoma or seroma formed after the biopsy (depending on how much tissue was removed and how much you bled). Any fluid build up in the site of the biopsy can make it feel bigger. The other option is that imaging under-estimated the size. It is quite common for imaging to either under or over estimate the size of the lump as it is measured, once it is removed.

Outfield

MTwoman pretty much said exactly what I was going to say, but I'll say it anyway in case different words are helpful.

How easily my own tumor could be felt changed dramatically after my biopsy due to the swelling from the procedure. I don't even think I had a seroma (clearish fluid collection) or hematoma (blood collection) - the area was just swollen and bruised.

The only way you can firmly know your tumor's size is when it is removed and measured by a pathologist. There is no type of scan that is perfectly reliably accurate. It's not uncommon for a lump to look one size on mammogram, another on ultrasound, and yet another on MRI. So if you're thinking the tumor grew because it was smaller before the biopsy but a different type of scan was done after the biopsy, the difference is probably due to how well each particular type of scan showed it.

The other part of it is what Cpeachymom mentioned. If you had the scans, then the biopsy, then surgery, it's very possible that the scans could not pick up the "fingers" of cancer that can be seen by the pathologist, making it look smaller.

Lexica

thank you all for your responses! Looking forward to surgery and getting more answers. Four more weeks!

Styler

The same thing happen to me you could literally see and feel the tumor growing it went from being the size of a penny to a baseball in 1month and was not a hematoma. I saw 16 different doctors and none of them had a answer claimed they had Never had seen anything like it....Alternative Doctor said they never should of biopsied it that it was a contained tumor and the needles punctured caused it to be able to spread and grow....My Advice to any one Diagnosed is you are your best advocate, Do your research before making any decisions....

Anonymous

An for an alternative argument about the myth that needle biopsies cause cancer to spread and tumors to grow, see link. Let's not scare ourselves any more than we need to.

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-researchers-find-cancer-biopsies-do-not-promote-cancer-spread/

AngryBird

My tumor grew considerably after a biopsy and after a liver biopsy I have had constant pain. Oncologists are idiots who preach whatever the pharmaceutical and insurance companies dictate to them. I truly wish I could affort a homeopathic doctor. I would then not have to subject myself to the witch doctors in oncology. 97% FAILURE RATE OF TREATMENTS.