title: Artefacts produced by suture traction during incisional biopsy of oral lesions.
abstract: The aim of this study is to compare the artefacts ascribed to the technique of incisional biopsy using a punch or scalpel and the influence of suture use for traction and delivery of the specimen. A total of 160 samples were obtained from 10 fresh pig tongues by four experienced oral surgeons. Handling artefacts (squeeze artefacts): crush, splits, fragmentation and pseudocysts were assessed. No differences were identified in terms of crush, fragmentation or pseudocysts between samples obtained with a punch or scalpel. Splits were more frequent in those biopsies taken with a scalpel (chi2 = 9.26; P= 0.0023). Artefacts in the punch biopsy group were significantly less than in the group that combined punch and suture traction (P < 0.01). The scalpel and suture traction group showed significantly more artefacts than the group without suture. It is concluded the use of a stitch for traction in small incisional biopsies causes squeeze artefacts, so its use should be restricted to specimen orientation.
authors.affiliation: Stomatology Department, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mromerome@nexo.es
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seoane
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Varela-Centelles
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De La Cruz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016477:Artifacts; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods*; D009055:Mouth / Q000473:pathology*; D013048:Specimen Handling; D013537:Sutures; D013552:Swine; D014059:Tongue / Q000473:pathology; D014143:Traction / Q000379:methods*