Needle Biopsy Linked to Breast Cancer Spread

Having breast cancer tissue sampled with a needle seems to increase the odds that disease will also be found in an armpit lymph node called the sentinel node, new research suggests.

The spread of breast cancer to the sentinel node adversely affects a woman’s survival and influences the treatment received. As reported in the Archives of Surgery, Dr. Nora M. Hansen of the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, California hypothesized that the method used to obtain specimens from the breast tumor might influence the spread of cancer to the sentinel node. To investigate, the researchers studied 663 women with proven breast cancer. Of the cancers, about half were biopsied with a needle, while the remainder involved actual removal of the tumor. Woman who had a needle biopsy were about 50 percent more likely to have cancer in the sentinel node than women who underwent tumor removal. The researchers suggest that the increased risk of sentinel node disease may be “due in part to the mechanical disruption of the tumor by the needle,” and they call for further studies to confirm these findings. (SOURCE: Archives of Surgery: Reuters Health News: June 2004.)