What Is a Biopsy?

QUESTION: Could you please clear up my confusion about the use of the term
"biopsy". I have seen it in several medical articles, but it seems to have a
different meaning each time. Thank you for your help.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANSWER: If we consult a medical dictionary, it will tell us that a biopsy is
the "examination of tissues excised (removed) from the living body".
Different techniques may be used to obtain the tissue and the name of the
technique is used to describe the biopsy (for example "aspiration biopsy" or
"punch biopsy"), which may have led to your confusion. Biopsies are used to
make an exact diagnosis of a tissue growth. A small piece of tissue is
removed from the area suspected to be diseased, and is then processed by a
pathologist. The tissue is fixed, by solutions similar to embalming fluids,
then colored with a variety of chemical stains, and finally, examined under
the microscope. The pattern of the cells, their internal structures and
elements, permit the Pathologist to determine the type of tumor, and whether
it is benign or malignant. This is extremely important, as it is this
diagnosis that determines the type of treatment.