The procedure might be done at your doctor's office or as outpatient surgery in a hospital. Your doctor will give you medicine to make you sleepy, then they'll put the endoscope through your mouth, rectum, or urinary tract or through a small cut in your skin. The camera will guide them to the tissue to be tested.
Needle biopsy carries a small risk of bleeding and infection at the site where the needle was inserted. Some mild pain can be expected after needle biopsy, though it is usually controlled with over-the-counter pain relievers.
Generally, you can expect after a biopsy: Some pain around the biopsy site. This should resolve, or at least ease over the next two or three days.
These procedures are usually fairly quick and might take 15 to 30 minutes to perform, depending on the part of the body being biopsied. Typically, the biopsy sample is then saved in a special type of preservative and sent to the pathology lab for processing.
After your biopsy
You might be able to go back to normal activities as soon as the test is over. Or you may need to rest at home for some time or stay in the hospital to begin your recovery. If your anesthesia includes a sedative, you need someone to drive you home afterwards.
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.
The biopsy site may feel sore for several days. You may have a bruise on the site. It can help to walk, take pain medicine, and put ice packs on the site. You will probably be able to return to work and your usual activities the day after the procedure.
Do not take aspirin or aspirin products 7 days before the biopsy. Do not take blood thinning products 7 days before the biopsy. Do not take anti-inflammatory products 7 days before the biopsy. Do not take Vitamin E products 7 days before the biopsy.
Recovery. Most biopsies will only require local anaesthetic, which means you won't need to stay in hospital overnight. However, an overnight stay is sometimes required when the biopsy is carried out under general anaesthetic.
After having a biopsy, you won't usually feel any pain. But if you have had a tissue sample taken from your bone marrow or a major organ, such as your liver, you may feel a dull ache or some slight discomfort. Your doctor or surgeon may recommend painkillers to help relieve this.
During an excisional biopsy, the doctor removes an entire lump or an entire area of abnormal skin, including a portion of normal skin. Stitches are generally used to close the biopsy site after this procedure.
Keep a bandage on the biopsy site for a day. Do not drive or run machinery for at least 24 hours. Do not do any strenuous exercise or lifting for at least two days.
Generally, after a patient receives positive melanoma results, his or her doctors will need to proceed with staging the malignancy— which essentially means determining the extent of the cancer—and developing a treatment plan based on how far the cancer has progressed.
An office-based procedure is a minor surgery, such as a biopsy, that is done an office setting on an outpatient basis, usually with some level of anesthesia.
The most common types include: (1) incisional biopsy, in which only a sample of tissue is removed; (2) excisional biopsy, in which an entire lump or suspicious area is removed; and (3) needle biopsy, in which a sample of tissue or fluid is removed with a needle.
You may eat anything soft and cool the first day by chewing away form the biopsy site. Do not drink hot fluids or eat hot food the first day. Avoid hard, crunchy foods that may harm the incision area as well as salty and spicy foods that may cause additional irritation.
Wound Care:
Apply ice packs to biopsy site the first several hours after surgery. Wear a good support full cup bra after surgery until incision and breast soreness disappear. You may even want to wear a bra at night to help alleviate any discomfort. If the bra causes discomfort, then you may choose not to wear one.
The bra will provide comfort and support after your procedure. Please wear a bra for three to four days following surgery, even while you sleep. This minimizes post-operative bleeding and will make you more comfortable.
In addition, some biopsies can be done with a local anesthetic to numb just the local area involved. Others may need sedation or even full anesthesia that puts you completely asleep during the procedure.
Biopsies may be done under local or general anesthesia. For local anesthesia, medicine is injected to numb your breast. You will be awake, but feel no pain. For general anesthesia, you will be given medicine to put you into a deep sleep during the biopsy.
As this study shows, listening to a relaxing meditation or music during the biopsy can help you both physically -- the procedure may be less painful -- and psychologically -- you'll likely feel less anxious.
For a few days after the surgery, you will probably feel tired and have some pain. The skin around the cut (incision) may feel firm, swollen, and tender. The area may be bruised.
A surgical biopsy is a procedure that involves the surgical removal of tissue from a lump or mass for examination under a microscope.
You may have some discomfort or pain from the incision. If you had a general anesthetic, you may feel sick to your stomach. If you have pain, discomfort or nausea, tell your nurse. He or she can give you medications that will help.