The study, published online in the journal Gut, showed that patients who received a biopsy had a better outcome and longer survival than patients who did not.
 

The researchers studied pancreatic cancer, but the findings likely apply to other cancers because diagnostic technique used in this study — fine needle aspiration — is commonly used for all tumor types, says the study's senior investigator and gastroenterologist Michael Wallace, M.D.
 

While there have been a few case reports that suggest a biopsy can spread cancer, such cases are very rare and there is no need for patients to be concerned, Dr. Wallace said.
 

"This study shows that physicians and patients should feel reassured that a biopsy is very safe," he added. "We do millions of biopsies of cancer a year in the U.S., but one or two case studies have led to this common myth that biopsies spread cancer."
 

Fine needle aspiration uses a thin and hollow needle to extract a few cells from a tumor mass.

Biopsies offer "very valuable information that allow us to tailor treatment. In some cases, we can offer chemotherapy and radiation before surgery for a better outcome, and in other cases, we can avoid surgery and other therapy altogether," Dr. Wallace noted.
 

For the current study, researchers examined 11 years (1998-2009) of Medicare data on patients with non-metastatic pancreatic cancer who underwent surgery. The results showed that those who underwent biopsies lived significantly longer than those who did not, suggesting they allowed doctors to design better, more effective treatments for those patients.