Lack of Needle Biopsies in Breast Cancer Patients Result in Unnecessary Surgeries

For many women with breast cancer, a needle biopsy may be the best procedure to properly identify the tumor and potential treatment methods. Yet a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that many surgeons often opt for a more invasive procedure.

"Needle biopsy really is the standard of care," said senior study author Dr. Benjamin D. Smith of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, according to Reuters.  

"Having a three or four centimeter (surgical) incision in the skin is going to hurt more and take longer to heal than inserting a needle,"  he said. "Excisional biopsy has more complications than needle biopsy."

Many health officials believe that a needle biopsy could save breast cancer patients a lot of time and pain. For instance, when a mammogram shows signs of a potentially suspicious lump in a patient's breast, the next step is to take a sample from the lump. However, medical staff oftentimes will have the patient undergo an open biopsy, involving an incision to first sample the cancer and then another to remove it.

For the study, researchers looked at the diagnostic histories of 90,000 women using Medicare data who were at least 66 years old and who had also undergone "breast-conserving surgery and radiation."

Findings revealed that out of the women who talked with their surgeons before the biopsy, just about 54 percent were given a needle biopsy. The other women were also twice as likely to undergo multiple surgeries.

"Both a needle biopsy and an excisional biopsy can diagnose the cancer, however, the attention to margins, the evaluation of the lymph nodes and the evaluation for other possible abnormalities in the breast prior to going to the operating room can save the patient needing multiple surgeries," said Dr. Dawn L. Hershman, leader of the Breast Cancer Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center of Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Hershman was not a part of the new study, via Reuters.