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).
Leukemia: A form of blood cancer in which a white blood cell becomes malignant and multiplies inside bone marrow. Leukemia may be acute (rapid and severe) or chronic (slowly progressing). Chemotherapy and/or stem cell transplantation (bone marrow transplant) can be used to treat leukemia, and may result in a cure. Multiple myeloma: A blood cancer in which a white blood cell called a plasma cell becomes malignant. The plasma cells multiply and release damaging substances that eventually cause organ damage.