Biopsy causing cancer to spread faster?????

Hummm..
I must say I've never heard of this...worked in the medical field for years...
Smart to do your " homework"...best to be armed with good info.
Wishing you the best,
Nancy

Boki,
Most doctors disagree with this theory. Please don't worry about this. The biopsy will not cause your cancer to metastasize. In fact, it caused my cancer to shrink (there were healthy cells surrounding it that dissipated, revealing the smaller actual cancer area). Just get your biopsy done and then take it from there.

Mimi

but the surgery might
My surgeon told me that the mastectomy could cause even just one rogue cell to roam in my body and maybe attach and grow somewhere.

Not in my case
I had the biopsy and all the testing and they started me on chemo before surgery to shrink the tumor but the surgeon also said it would get the stray cells floating around also. My mom always talked about how surgery spread the cancer (she was talking in-general) but she based that fact on one relative who's cancer spread after surgery and you know you can't make an assumption on just one. Some do and some don't. All of us on this board had a biopsy (I think it's pretty standard) but not all of us have mets.

In my experience as a
In my experience as a Surgical Technologist we were always taught that scrubbing the surgical site when there was suspicion of cancer we had to be extremely cautious of that area. Gentle as to not disrupt the shell of the lump. So to me....my common sense tells me why in the world would it be ok to poke it with a needle and leaving it exposed to the process of osmosis and diffusion?
My girlfriend started out with stage 1 cancer and I begged her to make them remove the total lump and not to let them stab it, she did anyway, and shortly after the biopsy proved it was in fact cancer they did a node dissection, they suspected no nodes would be infected but by the time they got around to that about a month had gone by. 16 nodes later, and a PET scan proved that the cancer had spread to her bone. In 9 different areas.
Knowing how much the entire organism of the human body goes through such trauma and weakened with any type of surgical procedure, it is best to do all you can under Knife number one. the continuous back to back procedures with meds also weakens the system making it really difficult to keep an immune system effective. To me the best route for her would have been to have the lump removed, send it off to frozen section, then diagnose. One time under, procedure complete. ONE CHARGE TO INSURANCE. All this little bit here and little bit there just tears down a person's ability to fight back.
It is definately worth doing research on it and making ones own conclusion on the matter. I think intuition and gut feelings go a long way. One thing a woman should never do it go against her intuition. : )

My doctor told me it caused
My doctor told me it caused swelling and might be inflamed for a while. It will feel like it has grown until the swelling goes down. Mine has healed and feels like the original size again. He said it will not cause spreading.

Boki said:

I guess
there are split opinions when it comes to the biopsy. I will keep researching as my biopsy is on March 1st.

Thanks to all for your input.
Boki

More than a month til
More than a month til biopsy?

I heard as a little girl that

I heard as a little girl that when cancer is found surgically just opening the area could let it spread.  I am sure sometimes it must do so.  Opening an active area by knife or air or puncture just makes sense.  May be not every time...............  Another risk we take in order to find the problem in the first place.

I thought it depended on the

I thought it depended on the cancer.  A coworker had some rare form of cancer of the scalp, the doctor did not know what it was but was going to biopsy.  However right at the time of the biopsy the doctor was called away and another was called in.  The second doctor realised what it might be and removed the whole area, a good chunk of his scalp because if he had cut into the cancer it apparently would have spread all over. 

I have heard some stories similar to this but I haven't heard it with regards to breast cancer.   I do think it is important to do your homework.  I am curious to know the outcome and what you choose.