Fna Causing Cancer To Spread?

I read today online that if you have a cancerous nodule biopsied, then the needle could cause the nodule to hemorage and cause the cancer to spread. Anyone heard of this?

 

 

I had the fna over a year and a half ago and have had no mets develop. I worried more about the chance of the lung collapsing than I did about the spreading but that never happened. 

Take a look at this site.  It may help you make your decision.

http://www.cancertreatmentwatch.org/general/biopsies.shtml

Good luck and God Bless.

I don't think the doctors would do it if there was such a risk.  When my PET scan showed a tumor in my femur and sarcoma was suspected, the surgeon would not do a needle biopsy because that particular cancer would spread via the needle dragging through so-called good clean tissue.  I chose not to do the biopsy with my thyroid because my surgeon said it was possible to insert the needle in an area that didn't contain cancer cells that actually might exist.  I think we all need to be as informed as possible and then trust our doctors as much as we can.  Let us know what you decide and the best to you.  Tara

So did you choose to just have it removed?

 

On 6/15/2008 TXMomOfFaith wrote:

So did you choose to just have it removed?

Yes.  I was having neck problems and my thyroid tumor showed up on the MRI.  I had melanoma years before, so I was pretty much trying to play it safe. {I had none of the typical signs of melanoma nor am I the blue-eyed blonde with light skin tones.  I'm dark with olive skin (Italian)---and I didn't have changing moles, etc}.  So when my thyroid nodule actually was visible while looking in the mirror, I decided not to just let it continue to grow.  No one really suspected cancer---even the surgeon.  The pathology surprised us all---papillary with tall cell.  Most of the information I have received regarding this type of cancer has been from this board.  What are you going to do?  Tara

 

You know at this point, I am thinking about talking with the doctor and seeing if we could just remove the nodule, benign or not. It would be choice to just remove the whole thyroid so I don't have to worry about this later on.

 

On 6/15/2008 TXMomOfFaith wrote:

You know at this point, I am thinking about talking with the doctor and seeing if we could just remove the nodule, benign or not. It would be choice to just remove the whole thyroid so I don't have to worry about this later on.

You can never be too safe.  I think that's a wise decision.  They told me that there was a 1% chance the nodule would be malignant.  Well....I was in that one percent.  Good luck--let us know.

 

 

On 6/17/2008 YaYaTara wrote:

 

On 6/15/2008 TXMomOfFaith wrote:

You know at this point, I am thinking about talking with the doctor and seeing if we could just remove the nodule, benign or not. It would be choice to just remove the whole thyroid so I don't have to worry about this later on.

You can never be too safe.  I think that's a wise decision.  They told me that there was a 1% chance the nodule would be malignant.  Well....I was in that one percent.  Good luck--let us know.

I actually have to agree with Tara, I too was only part of the 1%, and I had three tumors that were 5cm each (2.5 Inches) and the surgeon said it was so much that it wrapped itself around the trachea and windpipe. It wasn't found by feeling it, or on the ultrasound, and the biopsy they could only test one nodule and thankfully it came out cancer, otherwise I wouldn't have found the other two that were growing in the back of the neck. The radiologist actually found it by doing a ct scan of my lungs because I was having trouble breathing, and when the surgeon got inside, she found alot more than we bargained for.

 

Good Luck to you!

 

 

 

On 6/15/2008 TXMomOfFaith wrote:

You know at this point, I am thinking about talking with the doctor and seeing if we could just remove the nodule, benign or not. It would be choice to just remove the whole thyroid so I don't have to worry about this later on.

TXMomOfFaith - what did you find out and decide to do?  I hope all is well.  Tara