In some cases, your doctor may decide that he or she needs a sample of your tissue or your cells to help diagnose an illness or identify a cancer. The removal of tissue or cells for analysis is called a biopsy.
While a biopsy may sound scary, it’s important to remember that most are entirely pain-free and low-risk procedures. Depending on your situation, a piece of skin, tissue, organ, or suspected tumor will be surgically removed and sent to a lab for testing.
If you have been experiencing symptoms normally associated with cancer, and your doctor has located an area of concern, he or she may order a biopsy to help determine if that area is cancerous.
A biopsy is the only sure way to diagnosis most cancers. Imaging tests like CT scans and X-rays can help identify areas of concerns, but they can’t differentiate between cancerous and noncancerous cells.
Biopsies are typically associated with cancer, but just because your doctor orders a biopsy, it doesn’t mean that you have cancer. Doctors use biopsies to test whether abnormalities in your body are caused by cancer or by other conditions.
For example, if a woman has a lump in her breast, an imaging test would confirm the lump, but a biopsy is the only way to determine whether it’s breast cancer or another noncancerous condition, such as polycystic fibrosis.
Credit : Healthline
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