The term biopsy actually means a view of life and actually means from the Greek "bio" meaning life, and "-psy" meaning vision. A biopsy is literally a look at living tissue, and is a test used to diagnose cancer. Any tissue or organ in the body can be biopsied, and there are a variety of techniques used. Some of these require surgery, whereas others will not even require an anesthetic. In each method, a sample of tissue is removed from the body and studied for cancer markers, cancer cells, or unusual cell division. Each cancer has its own techniques of diagnosis, but the different types of biopsies can be differentiated. Naturally, you should go to a reputed medical clinic to get this done. You can look up an online health directory to get leads. Skin biopsies are performed to help with the diagnosis of your skin condition. Sometimes, different skin conditions can look similar to the naked eye so additional information is required. This is obtained by looking at the structure of the skin under the microscope after the cells have been stained with special colored dyes. Types of Biopsy: 1) Excisional biopsy. This is a surgical removal of the suspected tumor growth. In this case, either an organ or lump is excised, or cut out of the body. Excisional biopsies are used for a variety of cancer diagnoses and for different reasons in each. In osteosarcoma they are used because of the growth rate of suspected tumors. Surgery will always be the first pick of biopsy in bone cancers. In lymphoma, tumors can only be examined as whole pieces so as to get an accurate diagnosis. Breast cancer is another cancer where some surgeons prefer surgery. This will make certain any cancer diagnosis with the most accuracy. 2) Incisional Biopsy. Here only a section of the lump is removed through surgery. This type is generally used for suspected soft tissue cancers. 3) Endoscopic Biopsy. This is the most common form of biopsy and is performed through a fibreoptic endoscope that is entered into the organ of disruption. The doctor looking through the endoscope can view directly any abnormal sections and cut or pinch pieces of tissue with forceps. A thoroscopy for endoscopic biopsy under general anesthesia will be used for mesothelioma, a cancer of internal organ lining. The reason for this is there is simply no other techniques to obtain a tissue sample. Meshothelioma is also very tough to diagnose through other means, and so excisional biopsy is the best course for an accurate diagnosis. 4) Fine needle aspiration is the most common form of biopsy today. Here a needle will be entered into the lump and a large number of cell tissue will be drawn through a syringe. These cells will then be stained and studied by a pathologist. In this case, a diagnosis is arrived at in a very short time. This kind of biopsy can even be done on hard to get at organs such as the pancreas or lungs with ultrasound guided techniques. This is the preferred choice as avoiding surgery is almost always first on the wish list of the medical expert.
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