During a surgical biopsy, a surgeon makes an incision in your skin to access the suspicious area of cells. Examples of surgical biopsy procedures include surgery to remove a breast lump for a possible breast cancer diagnosis and surgery to remove a lymph node for a possible lymphoma diagnosis. Surgical biopsy procedures can be used to remove part of an abnormal area of cells (incisional biopsy).
Blood cancer is a type of cancer or tumor. Blood cancer hurts the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Sometimes more than one body part is hurt. The cause is usually different from other types of cancer. The way to find out if a person has this cancer is also different. The treatment is usually drugs. People with blood cancers see a kind of doctor called a hematologist (blood doctor) or oncologist (cancer doctor).
The exact cause of blood cancer is not known. Some types of blood cancer are due to spontaneous (not inherited) mutations in the genes that control production of specific types of blood cells. Immunocompromised people and people with autoimmune diseases have an increased risk of developing certain types of blood cancer.