Evaluation of 11-gauge and 9-gauge vacuum-assisted breast biopsy systems in a breast parenchymal model.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

To compare three commercially available vacuum-assisted breast biopsy systems for tissue yield, length and fragmentation of specimens.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Specimens were acquired from radiolucent (bacon) and radioopaque (turkey breast) tissue using three different commercially available vacuum-assisted breast biopsy devices. Two systems (system 1 and 2) were equipped with 11 G needles, one system (system 3) with a 9 G needle. As for systems 1 and 2 a second chamber for applying the vacuum is attached to the needle, the external maximum diameter was identical for all three systems. 48 specimens were taken out for each tissue type and for each device. Specimens were measured for total weight, individual length, and number of fragments. Differences between groups were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Student's t-test.

RESULTS

For both tissue types, system 1 and 2 showed similar results, for system 3 tissue weight and length of specimens were larger. Differences in lengths and weight were statistically significant between system 1 and 3 and system 2 and 3 (ANOVA, P < 0.05). Differences between length and weight were statistically significant between tissue 1 and 2 for all devices (t-Test < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

As for system 3 a larger tissue yield was obtained with the same number of specimens compared to systems 1 and 2, it can be assumed that the same diagnostic accuracy as for systems 1 and 2 may be achieved for system 3 with less passes through tissue.