

Stereotactic/
Tomographic
Breast Biopsy

What is an Stereotactic/Tomographic Breast Biopsy
If you have had an abnormality detected on your breast imaging that is suspicious or indeterminate and it is only visualized with mammography you may be recommended for stereotactic biopsy. Normally this technique is used to biopsy regions of calcifications.
The use of tomographic or 3D imaging has made it possible for radiologists to also target small masses, areas of distortion and other findings not well visualized on ultrasound for biopsy under mammography.
Biopsy is a minimally invasive way to take some cells from the area that catches your doctor's eye and find out what they are. The goal of biopsy is to sample the abnormality to determine diagnosis. This procedure is not curative or therapeutic in any way, but it will help your care team plan what the best course of clinical management is for this finding.
Mammography is used to find this abnormal region, clean the surface of your skin and give you an injection of local anesthetic.
You will be awake during this procedure and you will need to remain still while the doctor is working.
Once you are numb a needle will be advanced into location - verified by taking some images - and the doctor will take several tissue samples from the area to send to the lab for pathologists to review and determine what is being seen for further clarification.
You will get a small bandage over the area post procedure, there are no stitches as this is truly a needle procedure.
The length of time of these exams is highly variable. First we need to find the area and sometimes this adds a few minutes to your exam. A computer will have to calculate your tissue thickness to ensure the correct needle is selected and that it is safe to obtain a sample this way. Please be patient - we don't want to tell you this is going to be a quick test because it can take somewhere between 15 min to an hour or more.
Normally pathology takes several days to get the result. You will not know the results immediately. Pathology is like the ultimate diagnosis at the cellular level - be patient, we don't want the pathologist to rush and not make the correct diagnosis.
Most patients cannot find the point of entry when they return for subsequent imaging. Your body will heal quickly from this type of test and the majority of people do not scar.
Remember that the majority of biopsies preformed result in a non-cancerous finding, but we would rather you be safe than regret not proceeding with biopsy if it is breast cancer.