Well, the above statement seems to be true at least in urology. Two studies presented this week at the 2010 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting have shown that removing larger biopsy samples using Cook Medical‘s BIGopsy forceps can lead to better identification of the nature of suspicious ureteral or kidney lesions.
From Cook’s press release:
One study, conducted by Shaun Wason, Alan Schned, John Seigne and Vernon Pais Jr. at Dartmouth Medical School, compared the diagnoses resulting from tissue samples taken with the BIGopsy forceps versus the market-leading forceps.
Researchers used ex vivo nephroureterectomy specimens to obtain tissue samples for biopsy. The BIGopsy samples were significantly larger than those obtained with the other biopsy forceps (average sample size of 31.2 +/- 34.6 mm2 vs 3.5 +/- 2.8 mm2). Unlike the competitor device, the BIGopsy specimens were accurately identified in all pathology reports.
The market’s leading biopsy forceps were used to obtain a total of six biopsy samples from three different specimens. The samples ranged in size from 1 to 8 mm2 with an average size sample size of 3.5 +/- 2.8 mm2. Using the same three specimens, BIGopsy was used to obtain five samples with sizes ranging from 6 to 80 mm2 with an average sample size of 31.2 +/- to 34.6 mm2, resulting in an average size that was about nine times larger than market leading biopsy forceps.
In all three cases, the test results derived from BIGopsy agreed with the final pathological report. Unlike BIGopsy, samples from the other biopsy device agreed in two cases but disagreed in the third. The smaller sample resulted in the tissue being misassigned as malignant.
In addition to their pathological conclusions, the researchers found the BIGopsy tissue specimens were less distorted and fragmented, making them easier for pathologists to interpret. The researchers concluded that improved biopsy quality may translate into improved ability to diagnose ureteral and renal pelvic mucosa lesions endoscopically.1
A second study2 presented at AUA by Saeed Al-Qahtani, Dorian Legraverand, Sixtina Gil-Diez de Medina, Malthilde Sibony and Prof. Olivier Traxer conducted at the Hôpitol Tenon in Paris, France, also compares the biopsy sample quality of the BIGopsy biopsy forceps to the market leader for upper-tract urothelial tumors. A total of 14 patients were biopsied using both types of forceps and a single pathologist then analyzed the blinded samples. The histopathology results of the biopsies performed with BIGopsy were of equal or better quality than biopsies performed with the other brand of biopsy forceps.
In their conclusions, the researchers noted that their study demonstrates the advantage of BIGopsy and strongly recommended it for the evaluation of upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma (UTT-TCC), especially in the case of conservative treatment.
Press release: Multiple Studies Show that Cook Medical BIGopsy Backloading Biopsy Forceps Can Aid in Proper Cancer Diagnosis …
Product page: BIGopsy Backloading Biopsy Forceps …
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