Evaluation of vacuum-assisted breast biopsy systems: Ethicon Mammotome ST 11G/8G versus ATEC Suros-system 12G/9G in clinical routine

Objective:

Two stereotactically guided vacuum-assisted breast biopsy systems were compared measuring time effectiveness and quality of harvested material.

Materials and Methods:

Biopsies were carried out with either the Mammotome® Breast Biopsy System from Ethicon Endo-Surgery (11-gauge and 8-gauge) or the Suros Surgical's ATEC® Saphire system (12-gauge and 9-gauge).

Lesions with a diameter smaller than 1.5cm on mammography were biopsied with 11-gauge or 12-gauge whereas lesions over 1.5cm were targeted with 8-gauge and 9-gauge. The time was taken during each performance focussing on launching the system, time of biopsy, preparing the samples and cleaning the site. With each system and each performance 24 samples were taken. The mammographic size of each lesion before and after the intervention was measured. The size of the tissue samples and their quality was confirmed by a pathologist.

Results:

146 patients have been enrolled so far. Ethicon 11-gauge was used in 37 patients, 8-gauge in 34 patients. Suros 12-gauge was used in 38 and 9-gauge in 37 patients. The Suros system proved to be significantly faster (8-gauge vs. 9-gauge, U-Test, p<0,001, 11-gauge vs. 12-gauge, U-Test, p<0,001). The Ethicon-system provides a significantly higher quality of the harvested material (chi-square-test).

Conclusion:

Both systems meet all requirements for daily practice. Regarding clinical routine the differences in time-effectiveness are slight, but the Ethicon-system provides significantly higher quality of the harvested material.

Keywords: vacuum-biopsy, biopsy-systems, ethicon mamotome, ATEC-Suros-System

Korrespondierender Autor: Biernath-Wüpping JJ

UKSH Campus Kiel Klinik für Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe, Mammazentrum, Arnold-Heller-Str.3, 24105 Kiel

E-Mail: [e-mail]