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Breast clinic appt for a x-ray guided vacuum-assisted biopsy

Posted By blackpanther77

"Breast clinic appt for a x-ray guided vacuum-assisted biopsy"

About: Surgical Outpatients / Breast Clinic

(as the patient),

I recently had an appointment at the breast clinic.  This was actually the second appointment I received for this biopsy, but unfortunately I did not receive this appointment letter. I feel it would have been better since it was only 2 weeks since a previous biopsy I had, that the department should have called re my appointment as the royal mail can be unreliable. 

I was also concerned as the nurse on duty said to me that they had waited ages for me the previous week, to which I replied that I did not get the letter.  I believe if an appointment is missed due to no fault of the patient this information should be passed on to staff due to the fact that the patient could not help that the letter did not arrive.  It left me feeling guilty, although obviously I had nothing to feel guilty for.

My first biopsy was 3 weeks prior to this one and all went well and I was completely pain free during the procedure.  I could not praise the staff enough for how relaxed and comfortable the whole procedure was.   However this biopsy unfortunately was extremely painful, even with the full amount of anaesthesia.  I did explain to one of the nurses on duty I was worried I may have been nipped by the machine which could be causing pain but they never checked my positioning. 

After a while of the nurse asking whether I was still feeling pain and not listening to my question re positioning I told the staff to go ahead with the biopsy as I wanted it over with.  I thought I would be able to handle a bit of pain.  However the biopsy had to be brought to a halt due to my considerable pain (which caused me to scream) and I also suffered a panic attack due to the considerable pain I was in and the shock.  The nurses were helpful during my panic attack. 

I wonder if the fact it had only been 3 weeks since a previous biopsy was the reason I was in so much pain and whether this could have been avoided and also I was not reassured when I voiced concerns re my positioning in the machine may be causing my pain.

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Responses

Response from Lesley Grattan, Breast Imaging Services Manager, NHS Tayside 2 hours ago
Lesley Grattan
Breast Imaging Services Manager,
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 02/05/2025 at 11:45
Published on Care Opinion at 11:45

Dear blackpanther77,

I’m sorry you didn’t get your appointment letter in time. We do try to allow for delays with the post, and phone patients for short-notice appointments, but we may have misjudged this in your case.

It is not unusual for a biopsy or excision to be performed within 3 weeks of a previous one, unless there has been significant trauma to the site. Your experience at the second biopsy appointment sounded very difficult. The breast has to be positioned in a very specific way to enable the machine to target the correct part of the breast for biopsy. Whilst this can be uncomfortable it would not be expected to account for the level of pain you describe, however I’m sorry you felt your concerns about the positioning element of the procedure were not adequately addressed and so led to further anxiety. There is a maximum dose of local anaesthetic that we can safely give and in almost all case it is sufficient to remove the pain, but very occasionally it is not. It is difficult to know exactly why this is, but in our experience it rarely happens twice.

If you are due to return for another biopsy and would like to speak to a member of the team directly in advance of it, please contact us on 01382 425626 or tay.breastservices@nhs.scot

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