11/10/2025
“Will Biopsy Spread My Cancer?” – Busting a Big Myth!
One of the most common (and fearful) questions I hear from patients:
“Doctor, if you biopsy my tumor… won’t it spread?”
The truth?
Biopsy does NOT cause cancer to spread.
It is a safe, standardized, and scientifically proven way to diagnose what the lesion actually is.
The bigger risk?
Not doing a biopsy.
Because without a tissue diagnosis, we’re fighting an invisible enemy.
The disease quietly continues to grow inside – and by the time it shows on the surface, it’s often too late for early treatment.
Important to remember:
• A biopsy is diagnostic, not therapeutic. It tells us what the disease is, so we can plan how to treat it.
• Treatment decisions – surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or surveillance – are only possible after we have the tissue diagnosis.
• Modern biopsy techniques are image-guided, precise, and minimally invasive. Complication rates are extremely low (well under 1–2%).
Studies show that the survival outcomes of patients who undergo biopsy are are much better, because they get the right treatment at the right time.
Bottom line:
It’s not the biopsy that spreads cancer.
It’s undiagnosed cancer that spreads silently.
As radiologists, our job is to make the hidden visible, and biopsy is one of the sharpest tools in that mission.
