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biopsy

A biopsy is a sample of tissue or liquid from the body that helps determine if you have a disease. If your doctor finds a lump in part of your body, she will probably do a biopsy to see if it is cancerous or not.

Bios means life and opsis means see, so a biopsy is a way for a doctor to look into your body, so to speak, by taking a sample of it. There are different kinds of biopsies, depending on where the tissue is that your doctor needs to look at. You might have a surgical biopsy or a less invasive biopsy by needle.

DEFINITIONS OF: biopsy

n examination of tissues or liquids from the living body to determine the existence or cause of a disease

Types:: show 6 types...; hide 6 types...; blood test
a serologic analysis of a sample of blood; chorionic villus biopsy, chorionic villus sampling
a prenatal test to detect birth defects at an early stage of pregnancy; tissue from the chorionic villi is assayed; needle biopsy
biopsy of deep tissue that is obtained through a hollow needle; agglutination test
a blood test used to identify unknown antigens; blood with the unknown antigen is mixed with a known antibody and whether or not agglutination occurs helps to identify the antigen; used in tissue matching and blood grouping and diagnosis of infections; complement fixation test
a blood test in which a sample of serum is exposed to a particular antigen and complement in order to determine whether or not antibodies to that particular antigen are present; used as a diagnostic test; PSA blood test
a blood test that measures levels of a protein called prostate specific antigen that is manufactured exclusively by the prostate gland; men with prostate problems usually have elevated levels of PSA

Type of:: diagnostic assay, diagnostic test
an assay conducted for diagnostic purposes

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