Breast biopsy

fishfish

I will go through my first biospy on Thursday because of one tumor found on ultrasound. I'm kind of concern because I know I have low pain tolerance and I'm also concern about the possible complications. I know it is better to be safe than sorry but I have no symptom, my mammogram is negative, and the doctor who did the full breast examination said he cannot feel anything and he is not convinced. I'm in one way feel frustrated why I have to go through the process, but again I know it is better be safe and sorry. Can someone share with me their experience so i know what to expect.thanks

Rockcity

fish fish - I'm sorry that you need to have a biopsy, but best to be safe and have the tumor checked out. I have had two different biopsies just months ago,a stereotactic biopsy and an ultrasound guided needle biopsy. I'm guessing you are having the ultrasound guided biopsy? I'm a pain wimp but I found that biopsy quick and easy. I sat in a chair that leaned back a bit. The radiologist located the spot with the ultrasound, then used a needle into the breast to superficially numb the area. He then went deeper into the breast to continue numbing. After I was numb, he used a needle several times to take tissue samples. Next he put a titanium clip in the breast to mark the area that was biopsied. Put a bandaid on and had me get a mammogram to get an image of where the clip was. This whole process took 15 minutes. For me it was very little discomfort. You will bruise and be a bit tender in the area for a little while.

The stereotactic biopsy was longer and a bit more uncomfortable but not bad. For that they put you on a table with your breast hanging down through a hole in the table. You are laying on your stomach and can't move for about 30 minutes. That gets uncomfortable and for me was the hardest part. They put your breast in a mammogram machine which pinches and locates the area to biopsy. The radiologist who is under the table numbs u up. After that the machine takes several tissue samples over a minute or two. It's noisy, but because I was numb it didn’t hurt. Next is the clip in your breast. The nurse uses a bit of compression to stop any bleeding ( the core needle is bigger than the ultrasound needle). They get a mammogram image of the clip, and bandage it up. Again, I bruised a bit a was tender for maybe a week or two.

I hope this helps. It sounds scarier than I think you will find it to be. I hope your biopsy is easy for you and you get benign results. Good luck.

Recap

There are multiple ways to biopsy (including surgery) and there are different kinds/sizes of needle biopsies.

Mine was a mammogram machine-guided stereotactic core needle biopsy, which I sat upright for.

Here was my impression as far as pain:

The resident dr did 3 lidocaine injections-each one a little deeper. Tiniest needle I have ever seen-like a strand of hair. I could not feel the needle enter my flesh even though I was watching (they talk too much about pain out of context increasing women's fears-they should be more descriptive imo.)

With the first injection my only sensation was when the lidocaine began to flow out of the needle into the tissue. This sensation lasted 1 second tops and was exactly like putting a piece of Dentine gum in your mouth-nothing more. (No pain after that no pain throughout the biopsy no pain leaving no pain in the week to follow-a tiny tiny bit of bruising appeared around 7days later.)

The core needle was alarming to look at because it was much bigger than the injection needle, but since I was so numbed up it was fascinating but not painful.

Everyone's experience is different, however. Pick something or someone in the room to focus on so you are not focused on fear of pain.

ps the clip or marker they leave behind is very very tiny.