October 3, 2018 — Leica Biosystems announced the U.S. launch of MammoPort, the first integrated specimen containment and transport system for breast tissue biopsies.
"Mammoport is the only tissue containment system which unites pathology and radiology colleagues in their common desire for maintaining tissue integrity throughout the entire radiological tissue acquisition to the pathologic diagnostic process," said Darius R. Gilvydis, M.D., breast imaging specialist at Edward-Elmhurst Health.
With medical errors representing a leading cause of death, experts recommend developing consensus protocols that streamline the delivery of medicine and reduce variability to improve quality and lower costs in healthcare. By integrating MammoPort with the Mammotome revolve breast biopsy device, the tissue containment and transport system is standardized, minimizing the potential for error and tissue damage.
Current breast biopsy methods require over 300 different processing steps and 14 interdepartmental handoffs, resulting in an increased chance for tissue damage, according to Heather Renko-Breed, global product manager at Leica Biosystems. MammoPort eliminates the need for manual tissue handling by radiology technologists, protecting the quality of the biopsied tissue and enhancing ease of use.
"Mammoport is the first system to completely eliminate unnecessary tissue manipulation and calcification separation, therefore maintaining critically important tissue orientation, size and integrity," said Gilvydis. "This is performed without crush damage to the tissue from tweezers as with other systems. This maintenance of tissue integrity allows improved diagnostic accuracy, which can lead to improved patient treatment and outcomes."
The Mammotome revolve breast biopsy device automatically places the tissue into the tissue trays. The radiology technologist then inserts the tray with the samples into the Mammoport container, and it is transported to the radiograph. Once the calcifications are confirmed, the radiology technologist marks the container with the breast cores of interest, placing it into formalin for seamless transport to the pathology lab for grossing and processing.
MammoPort eliminates the need to manually separate tissue with calcifications from non-calcifications, helping prevent potential medical errors. The specimens remain individually contained to maintain the orientation and location of the calcifications, and the marked container helps to ensure the proper patient information and critical specimen identification of calcifications remain intact throughout the process.
"The hard work of detecting the breast abnormality, acquiring the tissue during the biopsy process, can all be undone by manual crush manipulation during the separation of tissue and calcifications," said Gilvydis. "Mammoport eliminates this pitfall and helps bridge tissue integrity throughout the acquisition and diagnostic process from radiology to pathology."
For more information: www.leicabiosystems.com