Almost everyone has heard the word “biopsy” to date, but not everyone knows what is hiding under this term. In general, a biopsy is one of the minimally invasive methods of research, in which a small piece of tissue is taken from an organ with a thin long needle for the purpose of further thorough examination under a microscope.
Liver biopsy
Today, many medical discussions focus on liver biopsy. Doctors cannot agree on whether all patients with hepatitis need to do this procedure.
However, the question has definitely been resolved in favor of this procedure in many clinics in various countries.
A liver biopsy is a minimally invasive procedure in which a small area is removed from the patient’s liver for diagnostic tests.
A liver biopsy is performed in several ways:
- The cavity method consists in conducting a biopsy by means of a small incision of the skin and introducing a biopsy needle through it.
- The laparoscopic method is a safer and more accurate method, because with the help of a laparoscope, the doctor sees the liver on the monitor screen. Accordingly, there is less risk of injury to neighboring organs and neurovascular bundles, and the result is more accurate.
- A transvenous liver biopsy is performed through large venous vessels, if the patient has abnormalities in the blood coagulation system.
A liver biopsy has its positive and negative sides, which is why it cannot be used as a screening diagnostic method.
As for the positive aspects, these are:
- reliable result in a short period of time;
- absolutely accurate indicator of the state of the liver tissue.
However, like any surgical intervention, a liver biopsy is fraught with a number of complications, such as:
- damage to large vessels, adjacent organs;
- secondary infection;
- pain in the postoperative period;
- bleeding development.
Undoubtedly, one should take into account the fact that a biopsy is taken from one or several sites, but no one will guarantee that these are pathological tissues. Of course, if the doctor knows in advance where the education is located and what material needs to be taken from it, then the result will be reliable, but in other cases it will not be so.
Breast biopsy
A breast biopsy is a method for diagnosing pathological processes of the mammary gland by examining a section of its tissue.
Today, a breast biopsy is performed on almost every third woman, because the incidence of mammary glands is steadily increasing.
Applicants for the procedure are women with identified areas of increased echogenicity on ultrasound, with suspected breast cancer after a mammogram, with palpable nodular formations of the mammary glands or pathological discharge from the ducts. In cases where there are visible changes in the area of the mammary glands (clinical signs of cancer), a biopsy without a mammogram is possible.
A breast biopsy can be done in several ways, which depend on the degree of tissue damage. In some situations, a biopsy results in the removal of a node or formation.
Placenta biopsy
A placenta biopsy is one way of monitoring the condition of the fetus, but it is very dangerous. The risk of spontaneous abortion after a biopsy is about 2% - this is not enough. Placentocentesis is performed in the second trimester of pregnancy and strictly according to the indications when the doctor suspects a gross fetal pathology. The negative point in this situation is that even for medical reasons, abortion in this period is very dangerous for the mother, and few agree.
However, this method is very informative and helps to identify many congenital malformations and diseases. In some situations, after a placenta biopsy, women are advised to consult a geneticist for further management of pregnancy and childbirth.
Using a placenta biopsy, you can determine the sex of the unborn baby and assess the similarity of the DNA of the father and the unborn baby, as well as determine the content of viruses and bacteria in the fetal blood.