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 [...]

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 had a mammogram and then a ductogram which showed an abnormality just beneath my nipple. They performed a core biopsy which showed “an atypical papilloma; no definitive ductal carcinoma in situ.” My surgeon told me I need an excision but it may mean removing my nipple. I’d rather not [...]