All or part of a breast lump is removed for examination. If a breast lump is large and only a tiny piece of it is removed, the procedure is called an incisional biopsy. If the lump is small and it is completely removed by biopsy, the procedure is called an excisional biopsy. Once a diagnosis of invasive cancer has been made, the patient is taken back to the operating room for lymph node sampling. Recently, physicians have begun to perform sentinel lymph node sampling - a procedure guided by a radioactive tracer.
Sentinel sampling usually permits smaller surgical procedures with less illness.
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