How long does it take to get results after a biopsy?

How long does it take to get the results of a biopsy back usually?

• My friend is having this lump thing they found under her arm removed tomorrow in a biopsy. It's not like the biopsy where they just poke it to test it, they are removing the whole thing. So, how long does that usually take to get the results back? Do lab people work at night and on the weekends? Cause she's getting it done late tomorrow afternoon so I don't know how long it takes them to look at things. She's supposed to go to China on Tuesday and if she doesn't have cancer then she wants to go because nobody on it knows yet that she may be sick and everything is already booked and she paid for it all by herself even though her parents would have helped, she did it on her own and that was alot of money and she should be able to go. *If* the lump itself is cancerous and there are no other lumps, does that mean it would be taken care of? Because my aunt had this thing on her face once that was cancerous and they removed it and that was that. The blood tests she had indicated lymphoma. She's 17 and had symptoms of it for like a year I guess, but she had mono when she was 14 and the symptoms were identical but even worse! So I know everyone thinks she has it, but we are still hoping they are wrong. Anyway, I just need to know how long these things normally take.

• Answer:

  Hi Lars, Typically doctors will schedule one week to go over biopsy results with their patients. However, if it is positive the pathologist will call the referring physician and go over the results on the phone. In a situation like this, your friend should tell the doctor doing the biopsy about her trip and have the pathologist call him or her with the results right away, good or bad. Excisional lymph node biopsies are usually looked at right away. I don’t know what kind of cancer your aunt had, but every kind is a completely different disease so you cannot compare two different types with each other. Due to your other questions I don’t think any other work up has been done, so there is no way of knowing if other areas of her body are involved or not. She has to have a CT of the abdomen and pelvis at a minimum in order to stage the cancer. Although I am not a doctor, I do believe there is a very good chance other areas are involved. I am so sorry. I didn’t know she had paid for this trip herself. I would be so proud of my teenager daughter if she did such a thing. How unfair! I hope she had insurance. If she did it will cover most of her loss so she can go at another time when she is better. I know I must be putting a damper on things for you, as my answers have not been what you want to hear. So I want you to know this is only a minor setback in her life. What is important to you both right now will be very different in 10-15 years and things really do happen for a reason. Even though I am 99.9% sure she has lymphoma and 95% sure there are other areas of involvement, I also believe she will recover. Best wishes to you both.