Biopsies are often used to investigate the cause of a person’s symptoms or to confirm a diagnosis.
A biopsy can also measure how severe a condition is – for example, how severely an organ, such as the liver, is inflamed.
Biopsies are used to diagnose a wide range of health-related conditions, including cancer. If you have a lump or growth on your skin or inside your body, it’s impossible to tell whether it is cancerous (malignant) or non-cancerous (benign) just by looking at it or feeling it. A biopsy can provide that information.
Testing a tissue sample
After a tissue sample has been taken, it will be sent to a laboratory so that it can be examined under a microscope and the tissue’s cells can be tested.
Cells are the building blocks that make up your body. By closely examining them, scientists can see whether they’re normal or abnormal. Cancerous cells, for example, look and behave differently from normal cells.
As well as looking at the tissue sample, chemical or genetic tests can also be carried out. For example, a chemical test is sometimes used to help diagnose cystic fibrosis. A chemical reaction will occur if the gene for cystic fibrosis is present in the tissue cells.
Chorionic villus sampling
Tests for cystic fibrosis and other genetic conditions can even be carried out on a cell sample that’s taken from an unborn baby. The cell sample is taken from the placenta using a pre-natal biopsy called chorionic villus sampling (CVS).
During CVS, a small piece of the placenta is removed using a fine needle that’s passed through the abdomen and guided by ultrasound.
It usually takes 10 to 14 days for CVS test results to become available. The results can help parents decide whether they wish to terminate a pregnancy or continue with it.
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Why a biopsy is necessary
