To get tissue or bone marrow for a pathologist to look at can be a complicated process, and there are many methods to obtain the tissue or bone marrow. One way is called endoscopic biopsy. A Dr. will insert a long fiber optic tube down your esophagus which has a light, and camera on the end of it. Using the camera and light doctors can look for areas along your digestive system which look cancerous or might have a tumor. Then if they see what looks like a tumor they can prick some tissue for microscopic analysis by a pathologist. A similar method can be used to look for cancer cells in the respiratory system.
Among the innumerable other methods of obtaining tissue is a bone marrow biopsy, where a doctor will insert a needle into the bone to obtain bone marrow for analysis. This biopsy is used for detecting blood cancers like Leukemia.
Because biopsies involve the cutting of tissue from the body, people simply don’t want to have a biopsy done if there is no prior notion of cancer. Consequently there is an immense interest in methods of diagnosis other than biopsies. However because some of the treatments of cancer can be harmful, a biopsy is almost always done before treatment begins. To confirm the conclusion of a non biopsy diagnosis. Some of the non-biopsy methods of trying to identify and diagnose cancer, are screening studies. Screening studies look for tumors which are large outcroppings of cancerous cells. These screening methods include CT scans, Chest X-rays, Mammograms, ultrasound scans, and MRI scans. All of these methods create pictures of organs and other parts of your body and can be used to look for tumors. CT scans, X-rays, and mammograms all involve using radiation and measuring how long it takes to get through parts of your body and making a picture with that data. Similar to sonar with radiation instead of sound waves. MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging use a similar method with a magnetic field instead of radiation. Ultrasound is just like sonar using sound waves instead of magnetic fields or radiation. Some of these methods have been surrounded by some controversy as some scientific evidence portrays them as potentially harmful.
and MRI scans. All of these methods create pictures of organs and other parts of your body and can be used to look for tumors. CT scans, X-rays, and mammograms all involve using radiation and measuring how long it takes to get through parts of your body and making a picture with that data. Similar to sonar with radiation instead of sound waves. MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging use a similar method with a magnetic field instead of radiation. Ultrasound is just like sonar using sound waves instead of magnetic fields or radiation. Some of these methods have been surrounded by some controversy as some scientific evidence portrays them as potentially harmful.
Of course there are many other ways of diagnosing cancer and individual methods for each type of cancer that we did not include in this article. To learn more visit the “more page” on our website. Remember to read part two of our trilogy on Cancer about treatment in the next edition.
diagnosis other than biopsies. However because some of the treatments of cancer can be harmful, a biopsy is almost always done before treatment begins. To confirm the conclusion of a non biopsy diagnosis. Some of the non-biopsy methods of trying to identify and diagnose cancer, are screening studies. Screening studies look for tumors which are large outcroppings of cancerous cells. These screening methods include CT scans, Chest X-rays, Mammograms, ultrasound scans, and MRI scans. All of these methods create pictures of organs and other parts of your body and can be used to look for tumors. CT scans, X-rays, and mammograms all involve using radiation and measuring how long it takes to get through parts of your body and making a picture with that data. Similar to sonar with radiation instead of sound waves. MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging use a similar method with a magnetic field instead of radiation. Ultrasound is just like sonar using sound waves instead of magnetic fields or radiation. Some of these methods have been surrounded by some controversy as some scientific evidence portrays them as potentially harmful.