Memorial Regional Breast Care Center

Ultrasound-Guided Core Biopsy with or without Mammotome

An ultrasound guided core biopsy is tissue sampling performed under the guidance of ultrasound.

What’s Involved
The biopsy is performed while you are lying on your back in our ultrasound room with your arm raised above your head. The skin is cleansed and sterile towels are placed around the breast. The breast is numbed with a local anesthetic. A small nick is made in the skin and the biopsy needle is placed into the suspicious area, under the guidance of ultrasound. The needle is placed in the skin nick 4-6 times to get an adequate tissue sampling. (If a mammotome probe is used, it will be placed in the skin nick and the probe will be rotated so cores of tissue can be sampled at the site. A vacuum system draws the tissue into the probe collection area. The vacuum system is also used to suction out blood or fluid at the biopsy site.)

After an adequate sampling of tissue is done, the radiologist may place a small metallic clip at the biopsy site in the breast. This clip will mark where the biopsy occurred if surgery would be needed in this area. You will not be able to feel the clip nor would it interfere with metal detectors or having a MRI done in the future.

The samples are then sent to pathology for diagnosis. The nick will be covered with a pressure bandage and the nurse will go over written discharge instructions with you.

Preparing for your biopsy
You may need to pre-certify with your insurance that you are having this procedure done. You may eat breakfast and lunch the day of your procedure. Although you will not be given any medications to make you drowsy, you may choose to have someone drive you to and from the Breast Care Center.

Do not take any medications containing aspirin, ibuprofen, Advil or Aleve 3 days prior to your biopsy. The nurse will talk to you about allergies and any other blood thinners you may be on. You may take Tylenol.

Results
The pathologist’s report takes at least three working days. Your physician will inform you of these results when they become available. If biopsy is benign, the radiologist may recommend a 4-6 month follow up to re-evaluate the biopsy area.