Punch biopsy of the skin by electric power drill: effect of speed. A post-mortem study.

The effect of drill speed on biopsy size and quality for microscopy was studied postmortem. Four millimeter punch biopsies were taken from the abdominal skin by different techniques: Manual punch and drill (250, 600, 1,200, 4,000, 18,000, 36,000 rpm). Biopsies taken with 250, 600 and 1,200 rpm were not different in quality from biopsies taken with manual punch. Biopsies taken at 4,000 rpm exhibited microscopic signs of trauma and those taken at 18,000 and 36,000 rpm were much poorer in quality and severely damaged. In conclusion, a high speed drill cannot be recommended for biopsy of the skin.