-
Asked by sommer<3 to Siana, Sara, Richard, Peter, Carolyn on 13 Nov 2015.
-
Siana Jones answered on 13 Nov 2015:
Hi Sommer, good question but it depends what kind of tissue you want to sample…
To get a muscle biopsy from human skeletal muscle you can use a big needle or a small knife. It’s not a pleasant experience but it’s done with local anaesthetic to the area being sampled so it’s not the most difficult or dangerous place to sample from.
To do a cardiac biopsy is a bit more risky. It’s done by a specialist invasive cardiologist (doctor) in a catheter lab in the hospital. It involves opening up a vessel in the arm or groin and threading a catheter (tube) into the heart so that a wire with a small tooth-edged grabby thing on the end can be threaded through to pinch off a bit of heart muscle. These days its a fairly standard procedure for the specialist to perform.
-
-
Richard Unwin answered on 16 Nov 2015:
Great question. A biopsy is where a doctor will take a small piece of tissue to look at or test to check for disease. As Siana said, the type of biopsy depends on the tissue. Skin biopsies are taken with a special device that ‘punches’ a small hole out of the skin, muscle is taken via small cut. We have done some work on kidney biopsies which are taken with a special needle about 30cm long and 3mm or so wide. Looks gruesome, but it’s import when people have had a kidney transplant as the biopsy can help doctors to see if the new kidney is working properly.
-
Sara Falcone answered on 16 Nov 2015:
Siana and Richard already gave you a good answer.
I can add that for more internal biopsies (for example from liver, kidney or spleen) you use echography as a technique to help yourself. With an echo analysis you can look at the inside of your body, so during a biopsy it is used to look at the needle and make sure it is punching the right thing.
Comments