Table of Contents
- Breast lump removal - 1
- Breast lump removal - 2
- Breast lump removal - 3
- Breast lump removal - 4
Indications
Early detection of a breast lump is very important to a patient's prognosis (probable outcome). Most breast lumps are not diagnosed at the doctor's office, they are detected by either mammograms or women who give themselves breast self-examinations at home. Any breast lump that persists beyond a few days must be reported to a physician.
In some cases, a needle biopsy aspiration of a breast lump can be performed. If the tissue obtained is clearly not cancerous, if no blood was seen on the aspirate, and if the lump disappears after aspiration and does not recur, physicians will often simply observe patients.
Otherwise, the breast lump must be removed surgically to determine if cancer is present.
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Review Date: 12/20/2010
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
