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Breast biopsy
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A breast biopsy is a procedure that removes a sample of tissue from the breast so that a pathologist, the doctor who studies tissues, can look at it under a microscope for signs of disease and cancer.
The reason it exists is blunt: it is the only way to find out whether a suspicious change in the breast is cancer. Neither a physical exam nor an imaging test can settle that question. They can point to where to look, but they cannot say what the thing is. The certainty lives in the tissue.
And what the pathologist has in front of them is the breast seen up close: terminal ductal lobular units, the small glandular clusters where each duct ends, lined by a double layer of cells. That is the normal pattern, and everything else is compared against it.
In brief
A breast biopsy is a procedure that removes a sample of breast tissue so a pathologist can examine it under a microscope for signs of disease and cancer.
It is the only way to find out whether a suspicious change in the breast is cancer.
What the pathologist looks at is breast tissue: terminal ductal lobular units lined by a double layer of cells, the normal reference against which everything else is judged.
Sources (2)
- MedlinePlusBreast Biopsy
- National Center for Biotechnology InformationHistology, Mammary Glands. StatPearls
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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