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Many Unnecessary Surgical Breast Biopsies Are Conducted

Jan 13, 2009 by TacticularCancer.com

A study has suggested that almost 600,000 out of the 1.6 million women who undergo breast biopsies are in fact going through unnecessary surgical procedures.

This was stated in an article on kdka.com, which was reporting on what was on CBS News.

The said study had found that 36% of women who actually need breast biopsies, end up getting invasive surgery.

What’s the problem here? Well, surgical biopsies cost about $5,000 to $6,000 and leave a bigger scar, whereas needle biopsies not only leave very small scars, but also cost much less – $1,000 to $2,000. On top of that, only local anesthesia is needed for needle biopsies, whereas more invasive procedures require the use of sedation and stitches.

“Some women even find they need to have further work to repair the breast biopsy they had, to show they didn’t have cancer! That’s really crazy,” said Dr Susan Love of the Dr Susan Love Research Foundation.

Some 9 out of every 10 abnormalities spotted on mammograms end up being benign. With such a poor hit rate, using the least invasive, least expensive and least scarring method would surely be the most sensible option.

But then again, there is very little common sense in conventional cancer treatment, anyway.

Source: Many Women Put Through Unnecessary Surgical Breast Biopsies at All 4 Natural Health News