I wrote an article a while back called “What Your Core Needle Biopsy Diagnosis Means” to help patients understand why sometimes even a “benign” diagnosis may require a surgical excision.  While writing that article, I spoke to many of my colleagues in breast pathology and breast imaging and found out that there is a marked [...]

Question: Hi I Had a sterotatic biopsy that revealed On the pathology report that I picked up said A. Columnar cell lesion with focal microcalcifications B. Lobular carcinoma in situ. I am so confused My doctor said I have DCIS but its lobular. Treatment plan is  lumpectomy and lymph node aspiration and then 5 years of [...]

In the past decade, core needle biopsy has taken over fine needle aspiration (FNA) as the main tool for diagnosing image-detected or palpable breast lesions. While this biopsy technique is just a sample, cores of breast tissue are removed vs. individual cells as in FNA and thus the pathologist has more information to make an [...]

Question: I am a 53 year-old woman who gets yearly mammograms and my doctor told me I had some new “calcifications” and she wanted to biopsy them. My results showed “columnar cell change with atypia (flat epithelial atypia).” Now they say I need to have surgery to remove the area. I [...]