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A surgeon will remove part or all of the breast lump during the biopsy. This will be done using a local or general anaesthetic. The breast tissue that is removed is sent to the pathology lab to be examined. The biopsy then determines if cancer is present or not.

What can I expect?

• Surgical biopsies are done as a day surgery procedure.
• Depending on your reaction to general anaesthesia, the symptoms you may experience could include nausea, vomiting, grogginess and fatigue.
• Bandages will be placed over the surgical areas.
• Pain and tightness will be controlled with pain medication.
• There may be some bruising and there will be a permanent scar on your breast.

How can I prepare?

• Eating and drinking will be restricted before your surgery.
• You will need to arrange for someone to drive you home from the hospital.

When the abnormal area is small and cannot be felt, the location is marked with a fine wire for the surgeon. The procedure is called needle localization. It is done before the surgery with the help of an x-ray or ultrasound. The doctor will freeze the area and then a needle is put in. The position of the needle is checked by taking more x-rays. When the needle is in the right place, a fine wire is passed through the middle of the needle. The needle is taken out and the wire is left in place until surgery.

What can I expect?

• The procedure takes approximately one hour.
• The technologist will help position you to have a mammogram performed. This allows the radiologist to locate the suspicious area.
• The radiologist will then place a fine wire into the suspicious area. The wire is taped to your breast .
• Additional x-rays will be taken.
• You will then proceed to surgery where the surgeon removes the suspicious area.

How can I prepare?

• Because you will be having surgery following the needle localization, eating and drinking will be restricted.
• If you are taking anticoagulants or blood thinners, talk to you doctor before your needle localization and surgery to see if your dosage should be changed for a short time.
• Wear a two-piece outfit since you will be asked to undress from the waist up.
• You will need to have someone drive you home after the procedure.

A sentinel node biopsy is a type of axillary (underarm) node dissection (surgery). The sentinel node is the lymph node most likely to have cancer cells if the cancer has spread. This surgery removes fewer lymph nodes and has less complications than an axillary node dissection.

For more information please see Types of Breast Cancer Surgery