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| Courtesy: Dr.Justin T. Diedrich |
A new fabric based cervical biopsy
device manufactured by Histologics LLC, a company that innovates different
approaches to tissue sampling, can collect a endocervical tissue sample for
histopathological examination with minimum discomfort to patients and yielding
better results.
Till now, the standard procedure to
collect the tissue sample after a lesion is suspected on colposcopy is by a
metal device. The metal hook does not remove that much tissue sample and causes
discomfort to patients.
Justin T. Diedrich, M.D., a clinical
faculty member in the School of Medicine at the University of California, who
has tested the device in a clinical trial said, “The new device, on the other
hand, is not sharp and removes the appropriate amount of cells while minimizing
discomfort. Because the biopsy gets more tissue, it is able to find more
precancerous cells. This could be the difference between intervening early
before someone develops cancer and waiting until it has grown larger.”
This is the first device to evaluate
the endocervix by a minimally-invasive office procedure.
The study was published in July issue of
Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease. The study compared samples collected by
conventional endocervical curettage (ECC) vs samples collected by fabric-based
ECC by physician groups. Using fabric based ECC yielded more satisfactory
samples (91.1% vs 84.6%) at the same time collected fewer inadequate specimens (4.2%
vs 0.6%, p < .001).
This means that less patients have to
come back for a repeat biopsy and more chances of finding precancerous cells.
The ergonomically designed fabric hook
flexes downward as soon as it is pressed against the tissue and exposes the
hook tip, that scoops the sample and rotate back.
The sampling system consists of two
componenets; a diamond shaped pad biopsy device and a tissue containment
detachable tip for storage and transport to the lab.
The colposcopist physician is not required
to handle the specimen directly. Once an adequate sample is obtained, simply
snap off the device head from the shaft of the device at the scored area. The
tip is now placed it in the fixative vial provided by the laboratory and seal
it tightly.
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| The tip in fixative vial along with tissue sample |
“Innovation can make medicine work
better and more efficiently,” Diedrich said. “In this case, innovation is
making colposcopy less painful, gets a larger biopsy, and improves the
detection of abnormal cells.”
Here is a
complete video by Histologics about the soft ECC procedure
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