Fine needle biopsy followed by core needle biopsy

[blue888]

Hi all,

a few weeks ago I had an ultrasound done (I am 33) because my left breast was sore. The ultrasound revealled cysts on the left breast and a 13mm well-defined hypoechoic lesion on the right breast.

I saw a breast specialist this week for a fine needle biopsy. The specialist was pretty reassuring that it would be beneign. However I got the results back today and was told that I now need a core needle bioposy becase the results showeds abnormal cells or though they did not detect any cancerous cells.

I was at work when she phoned so could not really ask many questions. My query is, what else could be causing the abnormality besides cancer?  Is it likely that the lesion is cancerous but they did not bioposy enough cells to get a firm diagnosis?

I am very scared and cannot really believe this is all happening.

Thanks in advance!

[PaulMD]

Hi there.

I understand your concern.  The disadvantage of fine needle aspiration biopsy is that it is able to only sample a very small area of the intended lesion, and also that the architecture of the biopsied lesion cannot be determined.  The core biopsy can provide a larger sample and a more accurate diagnosis.  The findings of abnormal cells in the FNAB should be confirmed by core biopsy.  There are other benign conditions such as hyperplasia, dysplasia, or fibroadenoma (most common) that can give rise to these abnormal fnab findings and does not automatically mean that this is cancer.  I hope your core biopsy will be uneventful and will have as minimal pain and discomfort as possible.  Regards and God bless.

[blue888]

Thank-you very much for responding.