title: The value of inking breast cores to reduce specimen mix-up.
abstract: Accidental switching of tissue specimens in the histology laboratory can result in significant medical error. We sought to evaluate inking breast core needle specimens as a method to reduce the chance of specimen mix-up. We sequentially inked 1,000 consecutive breast core specimens with 6 different colors. Review of the color of the ink revealed 3 discrepancies: 1 related to blocks being switched, 1 related to incorrect labeling, and 1 was a typographical error. Inking of breast core specimens is a simple, inexpensive, and effective way to help reduce the chance of specimen mix-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Baptist Hospital of Miami, Miami, FL 33176, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Renshaw
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kish
authors.forename: Edwin W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Gould
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D003116:Color; D005260:Female; D006651:Histocytochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007281:Ink; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000592:standards*