Biopsy is an invasive test used to analyze the health and integrity of various body tissues such as the skin, lungs, muscles, bones, liver, kidneys, or spleen. The purpose of the biopsy is to observe any changes, such as changes in shape.and cell size, being useful even to identify the presence of cancer cells and other health problems.
When your doctor requests a biopsy, it’s because there’s a suspicion that your tissue has an alteration that can’t be seen in other tests, so the test needs to be done quickly in order to diagnose the health problem and start treatment as soon as possible.as much as possible.
- In most cases.
- Biopsies are required if cell abnormalities are suspected.
- Such as suspected cancer or in cases of signs or moles on the skin with suspicious characteristics.
When infectious diseases exist, biopsy can help identify the agent that is the source of the infection and, in the case of autoimmune diseases, can help identify changes in internal organs or tissues.
In most cases, biopsies are performed under local anesthesia or light sedation, and are usually a fast, painless procedure that does not require hospitalization, during which the doctor will collect the material, which will then be tested in the lab.
For internal biopsies, the procedure is usually image-guided, using techniques such as CT, ultrasound, or MRI, for example, that allow organ observation.
In the following days, the biopsy perforation site should be cleaned and disinfected according to the instructions given by your doctor and, in some cases, antibiotics may be recommended to help with healing.
There are several types of biopsies that can be performed and some of the most common are:
The type of biopsy to be performed depends on the problem to be identified, the biopsy result may be negative or positive, and your doctor may always request a repeat of the test to eliminate the false positive hypothesis.
In addition to traditional biopsy, there is also a liquid biopsy, which is a blood test to identify and analyze cancer cells, being in some situations an alternative to classical biopsy.