Biopsy for neuroendocrine tumours (NETs)
A biopsy means surgically removing a piece of tissue so that a pathologist can look at it under a microscope. This is the only way to be certain if an abnormal area is a cancer or not.
Why you might have a biopsy
You might have this test if a scan has shown an abnormal area in your body. You might have a biopsy at the same time as other tests for neuroendocrine tumours.
Your doctor takes a sample of the abnormal tissue to look at under a microscope. The sample is sent to the laboratory to be looked at by a specialist doctor called a pathologist.
How you have a biopsy
How you have a biopsy depends on where your doctor is taking the sample from. You might have a biopsy under general anaesthetic. This means you are asleep and won’t feel anything.
Or you might have it under local anaesthetic. This means that your doctor numbs the area before taking the tissue sample. Sometimes you may have a drug to make you drowsy (sedation) if you’re having a local anaesthetic.
Doctors can use scans such as ultrasound or CT scans to help guide many types of biopsies.
Types of biopsy
There are different types of biopsy. The type you have depends on where in the body the abnormal area is.
Your doctor uses a thin needle to go through the skin and into an abnormal area, such as a lump. If the lump is near the surface of your skin, your doctor can just feel where to put the needle in. For lumps deeper in your body they’ll use a scan to help guide the needle.
Your doctor takes out a sample of cells through the needle and into a syringe. They then send the sample to the lab.
This is similar to having a fine needle aspiration, but the doctor uses a thicker needle. This means they can remove a larger sample of tissue.
Your doctor may remove the whole abnormal area, if it’s not too large. For example, they may take out a swollen (enlarged) lymph node. Depending on where the abnormal area is, you may have this small operation under local anaesthetic or general anaesthetic.
Your doctor may remove part of an abnormal area if it is large or too complicated to remove.
An endoscopy is a test that looks inside the body, for example in your stomach or bowel. The endoscope is a long flexible tube which has a tiny camera and light on the end of it. Your doctor can see the images on a TV screen.
There are different types of endoscopies and doctors use these to look inside the different parts of your body. The type you will have depends on which part of the body your doctor is looking at.
For example you might have:
- a colonoscopy – to look at the inside of your large bowel (colon)
- a bronchoscopy – to look inside your windpipe (trachea) and lungs
- an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography) – to look at your liver, pancreas and bile ducts
Your doctor might attach an ultrasound probe to the endoscope. This is called an endoscopic ultrasound. Ultrasound uses sound waves to build up a picture of the area. Your doctor might use it to look at the outer layers of the food pipe (oesophagus) or stomach for example, and the area around it. They may be able to see if nearby lymph nodes are swollen (enlarged).
During the test, doctors can put small surgical instruments through the endoscope to take samples of tissue (biopsy).
After the test
Your doctor sends the biopsy samples to the laboratory, where a specialist doctor (pathologist) looks at the cells under the microscope.
You may go home the same day as your biopsy or the next day. This will depend on the type of biopsy you have and where in the body the biopsy is taken from.
Your doctor or nurse will tell you if you need to follow any instructions when you get home, such as how to care for your wound if you have one. They will also tell you who to contact if you have any problems after your biopsy.
Getting your results
You usually get the results within 2 weeks. The doctor who arranged the biopsy will give them to you.
Waiting for test results can be worrying. It may help to talk to a close friend or relative about how you feel.
Other tests
Most people have several tests to diagnose a neuroendocrine cancer. You can find out what other tests you might have in your specific neuroendocrine cancer section.
This page is due for review. We will update this as soon as possible.
