More Evidence That "Stab & Grab" Types of Biopsies Spread Cancer - Defining Tumor "Budding"

Usually a period of time lapses after biopsy and before surgery which allows the tumor to “bud”, in other words, GROW from the puncture site! Not surprisingly, this growth and the extent of the budding is used in determining how aggressive to be with treatment! The more “budding”, the more aggressive treatment may be.

This article in Honest Pathology entitled What Does Tumor Budding Mean discusses this phenomena and refers to the puncture site as “the invaded now invasive front” of the tumor (rather than as “the invaded invasive front”) where the tumor is most likely to bud and invade surrounding tissue! The rate of budding from the biopsy site is considered a cancer marker of the tumor’s aggressiveness per the article, so it is the pathologist’s job to report about the quality and quantity of budding at the biopsy poke site after the tumor is removed and reaches the lab in order to help determine how aggressive treatment should be.

The big takeaway from this is how dangerous it may be to leave a biopsied tumor in the body which is exactly what happens when a woman decides that she will treat naturally instead of proceeding with surgical removal. If there is any chance a person will want to treat naturally, a “stab and grab” biopsy should be considered a possible hinderance to the natural treatment’s ability to work because it tends to induce budding/growth. An excisional biopsy removes the entire mass/tumor and then it is sent off to the lab for determination of its type, size, etc.

Click here to see another post that references a study that showed the differences in rates of spreading (metastases) of breast tumors that were biopsied using three different methods. Spoiler alert: Excisional biopsy had a much lower rate of spreading cancer than the Fine Needle Aspiration and the Stereotactic Core biopsy methods.

If you are being pressured to biopsy while a mass is still in your body and being told that a “stab & grab” biopsy will not spread cancer, the study in the linked post above is your “ammo”. Stick to your guns because your health matters!

Another advantage of an excisional biopsy over a stab & grab is that you will not end up with a metal clip or tag inside your body which gets placed beside your mass for the purpose of aiding the surgeon in finding the mass who is assigned to remove the mass. (If biopsy results of a stab & grab are negative, the woman has to keep that metal marker inside her breast and many women regret having that remain in their body.)

STRONG EVIDENCE that "Stab & Grab" Biopsies ARE RISKY - Demand An Excisional Biopsy to Reduce Risk of Spreading Cancer

This FIVE YEAR STUDY compared outcomes of those receiving three types of biopsy and the results were profound showing that manipulation of an intact tumor with biopsy rather than removing (excising) the tumor (with poking/typing done after it is outside the body) correlates with the greatly increased chances of encountering cancer in the lymph nodes.

An EXCISIONAL BIOPSY of breast tumor is one that removes the entire mass in question rather than poking the mass and taking a sample of it. Only after the tumor is out of the body is the tumor punctured for testing.

Sadly, this option of excisional biopsy is kept as a big secret and few know to insist on excisional biopsy. A decades old study proved the danger of “stab and grab” punctures of tumors still in the body. Women who received biopsies using Fine Needle Aspiration (sounds safe, eh?) and large-gauge needle core biopsy had higher metastases (cancer spreading) in sentinel nodes than those who had excisional biopsies!

Another way that we know “stab and grab” biopsy can cause spreading is that the surgeon’s report form (post-surgery) has the question “Was there budding in the needle path?” This means “did any tissue fall off the needle and grow in the path where the tissue was drug out?”.

This question alone proves it is possible for “stab and grab” methods to spread cancer, and ESPECIALLY risky if the woman decides to reject surgical removal of a cancer discovered by “stab & grab” types of biopsy, leaving the punctured tumor and any tissue dropped into the needle path to “bud” or grow.

So how is it that a doctor can claim that “poking/puncturing” a tumor will not spread cancer? Well, it is the surgeon’s job to remove not only the tumor and margins around the tumor but also the entire needle path through which the tissue was drug out of the body.

Per the study linked above, excisional biopsy appears to reduce this risk, likely because the tumor is not punctured, nor is any tissue drug out from the tumor. The tumor or mass is simply removed surgically without being manipulated/punctured assuming the surgeon is competent in performing a proper excisional biopsy.

If biopsy is being recommended, it could be crucial to one’s health to insist upon only excisional biopsy. Reject “stab and grab” types like fine needle aspiration or core biopsy and request excisional biopsy if you wish to reduce risk of spreading cancer as clearly appears to be the risk per the linked study above.

While the study concludes with “The clinical significance of this phenomenon is unclear” it does not take a rocket scientist to realize that excisional biopsy is correlated with better outcomes than “stab and grab” types of biopsy.