Needle biopsy vs excisional biopsy

Hi Katie. I had an excisional biopsy. The plan was to do the stereotactical biopsy but it was technically not feasible. My calcifications were at the 7-8 o'clock area which did not allow enough breast tissue to be held tightly in the paddle while they advanced the needle in. They could approach from another angle that did provide plenty of breast tissue to be held tightly, but then they could not clearly see the calcifications. Since the excisional takes a larger tissue sample it gives a more accurate pathology of what's going on while a needle biopsy may show dcis or benign findings and miss invasive. My surgeon also said that had they done the stereo and only found dcis, he would have recommended the excisional to rule out invasive. So in essence, I got to skip a step. My scar is about 1 1/2" and has healed nicely. I had a stereo about 10 years ago and for myself I will just take the excisional biopsies for now on! It seems like some places the radiologist will do the needle biopsy; in my case, a surgeon did the stereo. My present breast surgeon was going to do the stereo at local hospital but a radiologist and mammo nurses were present to assist with the mammo and guidance of the stereo gun.