Two failed needle biopsies

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mflan - 20 Mar 2004 02:52 GMT

My dad was told 2 weeks ago that he had a mass the size of an orange between his liver and pancreas. Since then he has had two needle biopsies. One through the front and one through the back. They both came back inconclusive.
They now want him to undergo surgery to do the biopsie. The failed biosies are starting to make us feel a little anxious and doubting of the doctors/hospital. Are these doubts justified or should we just go to the next suggested step?

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Steph - 20 Mar 2004 02:45 GMT

> My dad was told 2 weeks ago that he had a mass the size of an orange between his liver and pancreas. Since then he has had two needle biopsies.

One through the front and one through the back. They both came back
inconclusive.

> They now want him to undergo surgery to do the biopsie. The failed biosies are starting to make us feel a little anxious and doubting of the

doctors/hospital. Are these doubts justified or should we just go to the
next suggested step?

That's the nature of the needle biopsy beast.
If the biopsy is going to make a difference to treatment, go for it.

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Frank Gingrich - 20 Mar 2004 03:38 GMT

> My dad was told 2 weeks ago that he had a mass the size of an orange
> between his liver and pancreas. Since then he has had two needle
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> anxious and doubting of the doctors/hospital. Are these doubts
> justified or should we just go to the next suggested step?

I assume you mean they want to do surgery to remove the entire mass. If
that is the case, I would certainly do it. Any alien mass, whether cancer
or not, is better out of your body than in. This is only my opinion, of
course.

I can't evaluate the docs/hospital, but failed needle biopsies are fairly
common -- they only get a tiny sample and, depending what it really is,
they may or may not be able to recognize it from the bit they happened to
get. IMO, needle biopsy is second best, only to be used when "excisional
biopsy" (removing the entire mass) is not available or, for some reason, is
unusually high risk. Get it out on the table, they can study it to their
hearts' content and get a valid diagnosis, and you'll be rid of it.

Good luck to your Dad.

Frank

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