Mammograms

Just found out that my mom's mammogram showed something and that she will have to go back to the hospital to have it checked out. The info I got was that she will have to be operated on and then they can figure out if it is benign or malignant. Isn't a biopsy in order and can't that be done without "surgery"? So many questions in my head, thus the posting at 5:24 am. Thank god for WebMD and Google.