Hi Tom,

Welcome to Cancer Chat. I can understand the confusion around this - do of course discuss this with your doctor/specialist at the next appointment (or before) to try to get some clarification so you can better understand what happened and the next steps.

If you feel you'd like to chat to someone prior to that, you are always welcome to give our nurses a call. You can reach them on 0808 800 4040 (Monday-Friday, 9-5).

And we're always here for support on the forum if ever you need it.

Wishing you all the best,

Ben
Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi [@Thomas81]‍ 

Im sorry this has happened to you and it's no wonder you're finding it confusing. I haven't had your experience but had a biopsy in May which came back as TH3a which I was told meant inconclusive though abnormal cells were found. I too have been scheduled for an op and a core biopsy which I was told wouid be within 4 months. That date is about to expire so I have insisted on a second biopsy. My only guess is that the fine needle aspiration is so small that seemingly it's hard to get an accurate picture from so few cells. But to say it was benign seems very amiss. I wish you well with your second operation. 

The problem with small biopsies, they only give a snapshot of the tissue that was removed, and if there were no abnormal cells in that biopsy, you get a normal/benign result. You hear this happening more often with core biopsies. When entire areas are removed, whether that be what you had, or a full lymph node etc, those allow a larger and more precise biopsy.