Meditation may help women reduce anxiety with breast biopsy: Study

A brief session of guided mindfulness-based meditation may help women undergoing a stereotactic breast biopsy to feel less anxious, a small study suggests.

Mindfulness meditation encourages participants to relax and stay in the moment instead of attending to wandering thoughts and emotions. Past research has found that it can alter brain activity in areas associated with emotional regulation, attention and self-awareness, the study team notes in Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Large-core needle stereotactic breast biopsy, sometimes just called “core biopsy,” is used to sample tissue deep within the breast and is done with only local anesthesia, the authors note.