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General health

Stereotactic biopsy

1 reply

itsstillhotinperth · 14/11/2017 15:06

Hello - Has anyone had one of these ? Just wondering what it's like ? It's to biopsy for dcis

Thanks

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greenleaf1 · 14/11/2017 19:39

Yes - I have. It's not fun - I won't pretend otherwise - but I found it uncomfortable rather than painful, and of course it's great to get it done to get your diagnosis sorted.

You'll be sat down in a chair by the mammogram machine, and they'll compress the breast between the plates. They then give you a quick shot of local anaesthetic (have you had an ultrasound biopsy? It's the same sort of procedure.) When that takes hold they cut a tiny hole in the skin, and insert a sort of probe thingy which takes the samples of tissue. It makes a bit of a loud noise - like a stapler Grin - which they'll demonstrate to you beforehand. I think I had six samples taken altogether, and you'll have to wait in the machine for a minute or two while they x-ray the samples to make sure they've got the right bit.

To be honest the most uncomfortable part was being contorted into a bit of a weird position. They make sure your head's turned away from what they're doing (a good idea probably!). Also, I have pretty small breasts, and my bastard little tumour was right at the back by the chest wall, so it took some twisting and turning to get it all between the plates. But - it was over quickly, and I had a really sweet nurse chatting to me throughout.

Please don't worry about it - you'll be absolutely fine. And best of luck - if you do have DCIS as I'm sure you know it has a 100% cure rate Flowers.

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