On removing the entire lesion
“I have greater assurance that I’m
not going to miss a lesion, especially the small calcifications.”
The Intact™ specimen
allows the pathologist to formulate a better tissue
diagnosis.”
Larry K. Killebrew, MD
Medical Director
Oklahoma Breast Care Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Click to see the video
“We had two instances in which we removed
the entire lesion and in both instances we told the
patient they didn’t need to have an open surgical
procedure because it’s gone.”
Wende Logan-Young, MD
The Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic
Rochester, New York
Click to see the video
On the benefits of the Intact™ procedure
"The primary advantage to the patient is
comfort. …including less bleeding. Radio Frequency
seems to have a hemostatic affect. Pain is not an
issue. …7 seconds and we’re done.”
“There is a time advantage because the
tissue capture sample is only 7 seconds. It allows
me to do more procedures, in a shorter period of time.
We really obtain a small surgical biopsy with this
technique.”
Larry K. Killebrew, MD
Medical Director
Oklahoma Breast Care Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Click to see the video
On the benefits of an intact architecture
"If you have an 11 gauge needle biopsy of
a 20 millimeter focus of microcalcification, you may,
in fact, be dealing with low-grade DCIS. However,
because of the fragmentation entailed in these multiple
core biopsies, it is often not possible to determine
that the architectural and extent criteria are present
which are necessary to distinguish ADH from low grade
DCIS. But in an [Intact] procedure, it is potentially
a different situation. For example, you may have a
single 15 or 20 millimeter mass of
tissue which you can [now] section and examine thoroughly.
You can see the architecture as well as the relationship
of the various involved terminal-duct-lobular units
and you can tell in those circumstances that the lesion
either ADH or low-grade DCIS."
Lowell W. Rogers, MD
Department of Pathology
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
Long Beach, California
“Only having a core through a lesion does
not allow us to know what is on either side of the
lesion in that linear core biopsy. We are missing
a very important criterion, the architecture of the
lesion… Intact™ specimen
allows the pathologist to formulate a better tissue
diagnosis."
"With the intact architecture, we actually
see more tissue….we see on this specimen all
those little pieces of tissue that go in between the
cores that you wouldn’t see with multiple vacuum-assisted
cores. More is better. Pathologists always want more
tissue.”
Ruth H. Oneson, MD
Pathologist
Heartland Pathology Associates
Edmond, Oklahoma
On the value of a larger specimen
“A larger specimen really a great advantage,
because so much of what is now re-excised represents
minimal ADH. If you had a larger specimen, it was
oriented, and had a sequential sequence, you would
know that it is only ADH. You can stop [and avoid
sending the patient for surgical excision]. You [reduce]
the large number of patients being excised for columnar
alternation alone. That would be another great advantage
of [Intact™], to say nothing
of being more likely to avoid an upgrade with larger
hunk of tissue.”
Michael D. Lagios, MD
The Breast Cancer Consultation Service
Tiburon, California
On the benefit of needing fewer slides for a diagnosis
“For example, if you have just two cassettes
of multiple 11-gauge cores, you're going to need about
six levels to adequately evaluate. That's 12 slides.
If you have an [Intact™ sample],
you can process everything in only one or two cassettes
and have a sequential analysis. You don't need levels
in that circumstance.”
“ [The benefit of the Intact™
system is that you not only [have] fewer slides [to
examine], but also fewer fragments on [each] slide.”
Lowell W. Rogers, MD
Department of Pathology
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
Long Beach, California
On the benefits over vacuum-assisted core needle biopsy
“A Mammotome® biopsy for calcifications
might take me 30 minutes [to assess.] This is because
all those cores aren't in the plain section; you have
to level them and keep looking for them. Compared
to [the Intact® system], it [typically will] take
me only a few minutes.”
"In some circumstances, we can't be sure
with a core biopsy. The Intact™
system affords us an opportunity to be definitive."
Jean F. Simpson, MD
Vanderbilt University
Department of Pathology
“The Intact™ specimen
provides an idea of margins of a lesion and may offer
a clearer understanding of pathology as it relates
to margins. For example, if an ADH is in center of
a specimen with intact margins, there is no need for
further intervention. The Intact™
system may give better definition of a small area
of invasion not seen on routine core.”
William R. Poller, MD
Radiologist
Allegheny Cancer Center
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
On reaching the target tissue
“ [With Intact™,
it] is much easier [to reach the target tissue] because
of [it’s] RF [energy source]. Even with the
8 gauge Mammotome® bladed tip, sometimes you're
in there cranking that thing around. You can slip
- because you don't know when you're going to finally
penetrate it.”
Carrie C. Morrison, MD
Radiologist
The Breast Center at St. John's Mercy Medical Center
St Louis, Missouri
