title: Punch biopsy of the skin: effect of temperature and local anesthesia with ethyl chloride freezing.
abstract: The effect of local anesthesia with ethyl chloride freezing on biopsy size and quality for microscopy was studied postmortem. Four-mm punch biopsies were taken from the abdominal skin by different techniques: manual punch and drill (250 RPM) at 8 degrees C and 33 to 36 degrees C, ethyl chloride, and injection of lidocaine for local anesthesia. Histologic sections were assessed, and defatted dried weight (DW) was determined as an expression of biopsy size. After ethyl chloride freezing, microscopy showed more trauma (p less than 0.001) and characteristic, marginal tissue-breaks (p less than 0.01). More biopsies (p less than 0.05) were not proper for microscopy. DW and the variances showed no differences. It is concluded that local anesthesia with ethyl chloride freezing results in tissue trauma and inferior quality of the tissue specimens for microscopy.
mesh_terms: D000772:Anesthesia, Local / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D005018:Ethyl Chloride / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005615:Freezing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D005018:Ethyl Chloride