Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Jan;4(1):5-11.
doi: 10.4103/2231-0762.129446.

Risk of tumor cell seeding through biopsy and aspiration cytology

K Shyamala  1 , H C Girish  1 , Sanjay Murgod  1
Affiliations
Review

Risk of tumor cell seeding through biopsy and aspiration cytology

K Shyamala et al. J Int Soc Prev Community Dent. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

Cancer cells, besides reproducing uncontrollably, lose cohesiveness and orderliness of normal tissue, invade and get detached from the primary tumor to travel and set up colonies elsewhere. Dislodging neoplastically altered cells from a tumor during biopsy or surgical intervention or during simple procedure like needle aspiration is a possibility because they lack cohesiveness, and they attain the capacity to migrate and colonize. Considering the fact that, every tumor cell, is bathed in interstitial fluid, which drains into the lymphatic system and has an individualized arterial blood supply and venous drainage like any other normal cell in our body, inserting a needle or a knife into a tumor, there is a jeopardy of dislodging a loose tumor cell into either the circulation or into the tissue fluid. Tumor cells are easier to dislodge due to lower cell-to-cell adhesion. This theory with the possibility of seeding of tumor cells is supported by several case studies that have shown that after diagnostic biopsy of a tumor, many patients developed cancer at multiple sites and showed the presence of circulating cancer cells in the blood stream on examination. In this review, we evaluate the risk of exposure to seeding of tumor cells by biopsy and aspiration cytology and provide some suggested practices to prevent tumor cell seeding.

Keywords: Aspiration cytology; biopsy; cancer; metastasis; seeding.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bar chart showing risk of tumor cell seeding specific to type of tumor
Figure 2
Figure 2
Piechart with percentage of risk of tumor cell seeding specific to type of tumor
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Biopsy and surgery can spread cancer. Dr. Vincent Gammill Center for the Study of Natural Oncology (CSNO) Solana Beach, California. Available from: www.healingcancernaturally.com/biopsies-surgery-spread-cancer.html .
    1. Moran P. Cancer treatment watch. Do biopsies or surgical treatment spread cancer? Available from: http://www.cancertreatmentwatch.org/general/biopsiess.html .
    1. Orell SR, Sterrette GF, Whitaker D. 4th ed. New Delhi: Churchill Livingstone, Published by Elsevier, Reed Elsevier India Private Ltd; 2005. Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology-Text Book; pp. 1–8.
    1. Hansen NM, Ye X, Grube BJ, Giuliano AE. Manipulation of the primary breast tumor and the incidence of sentinel node metastases from invasive breast cancer. Arch Surg. 2004;139:634–9. - PubMed
    1. Dangers of cancer spread from a biopsy. [Last Accessed in 2013 Jun 5]. Available from: http://www.karlloren.com/biopsy/p46.htm .