Services
Ultrasound Biopsies
What is an Ultrasound-Guided Breast Biopsy?
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After the procedure:
After the biopsy the sonographer will clean the breast and place a bandage over the biopsy site. An ice pack will be supplied. Keep it pressed tightly against the biopsy site for approximately 30 minutes. Some bruising is common after a biopsy. We may request that you remain in the patient resting area for a 30-minute observation period.
If you received oral sedation prior to the procedure, do not drive, sign any legal documents or operate any power equipment for 12 hours. Do not drink alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, etc.) for 12 hours.
The local anesthesia will wear off in approximately 2-3 hours. We recommend acetaminophen (Tylenol) for discomfort. Do not take aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (Advil, Ibuprofen, Aleve, etc). Ice may be helpful and is recommended.
Avoid strenuous activities involving the upper body such as sports, exercise, house work and heavy lifting for 24-48 hours after the procedure. It is important for you to report any excessive bleeding, drainage, pain not relieved by Tylenol, increasing redness or swelling, shaking chills and/or a fever greater than 101° to your physician or the FHDI radiologist who performed this procedure.
If you have medical concerns following your procedure, the radiologist is available in the clinic until 6:00pm. If you are unable to reach the radiologist, call your referring physician or in case of an emergency, report to the closest hospital emergency room. Your biopsy results are usually available to your physician within 48 hours except on weekends/holidays.
Who interprets the results and how do I get them?
A pathologist examines the removed specimen and makes a final written diagnosis. Depending on the facility, the radiologist or your referring physician will discuss the results with you.
What are the benefits vs. risks?
Benefits
- The procedure is less invasive than surgical biopsy, leaves little or no scarring, is relatively painless, uses no radiation and can be performed in less than an hour.
- Ultrasound-guided breast biopsy safely provides tissue samples that can show whether a breast lump is benign or malignant. Occasionally an additional biopsy may be required.
- Compared with stereotactic breast biopsy with mammography, ultrasound biopsy is faster and avoids the need for breast compression and ionizing radiation. Ultrasound-guided biopsy is also less expensive than stereotactic biopsy.
- With ultrasound it is possible to accurately follow the biopsy needle in real time in the breast tissue.
- Ultrasound-guided breast biopsy is also used to evaluate lumps under the arm or near the chest wall, which are hard or impossible to reach with stereotactic biopsy.
- Recovery time is short and patients can soon resume their usual activities.
Risks
- Occasionally patients have significant delayed pain or discomfort, which is usually readily controlled by non-prescription pain medication.
- Any procedure where the skin is penetrated carries a risk of infection. The chance of infection requiring antibiotic treatment is reportedly less than one in 1,000.
- During a biopsy of tissue located deep within the breast there is a slight risk that the needle will pass through the chest wall, which could collapse a lung. This is an extremely rare occurrence and readily diagnosed and treated.
- Because the vacuum-assisted device removes more tissue than other methods, there is a higher risk of bleeding and forming a hematoma (a collection of blood at the biopsy site) with this procedure. The risk, however, appears to be less than five percent of patients