Stereotactic biopsy

Stereotactic biopsy, also known as stereotactic core biopsy, is a biopsy procedure that uses a computer and imaging performed in at least two planes to localize a target lesion (such as a tumor or microcalcifications in the breast) in three-dimensional space and guide the removal of tissue for examination by a pathologist under a microscope. Stereotactic core biopsy makes use of the underlying principle of parallax to determine the depth or "Z-dimension" of the target lesion.

Stereotactic core biopsy is extensively used by radiologists specializing in breast imaging to obtain tissue samples containing microcalcifications, which can be an early sign of breast cancer.

External links

• Stereotactic biopsy entry in the public domain NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms

 This article incorporates public domain material from the U.S. National Cancer Institute document "Dictionary of Cancer Terms".