[Histonet] Same Day Breast Biopsy Results

[Charles.Embrey]

In my opinion what your surgeon is asking for is detrimental to proper
patient care, results in substandard slides and opens both the hospital
and pathologist to potential malpractice.  Breast, because of its fatty
nature is slower to fix and process than other tissues and rush
processing usually results in poor slides.  A recent post on histonet
stated that they have to reprocess "a lot of blocks", mainly breast,
because of difficulty in sectioning.  What if that tissue, wasted in the
first attempts at processing contained the tumor and the reprocessed
tissue is now tumor free?  With today's imaging studies tumors and
lesions are being found earlier and thus smaller that ever.  You can't
afford to waste any tissue in an attempt to rapid process.  All this
aside, what is the surgeon going to do with same day results?  How are
same day results going to affect his care of the patient?  How is
waiting 24 to 48 hours going to have a negative impact on his care for
the patient?  I suspect, the surgeon only want to look good to the
patient by giving them the report quickly. The bottom line is that your
Chief Pathologist is going to have to put his foot down and say NO.  It
is better for the patient to have good histology and a confident
diagnosis than speed and a suspect diagnosis.  Personally, we fix all
breast tissues, even cores, overnight before processing and get great
results.  You can tell your surgeon that my facility will not jeopardize
patient care for speed.

Charles Embrey Jr., PA(ASCP)
Histology Manager
Carle Clinic, Illinois
       

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of
chiggerson <@t> memhosp.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 8:07 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Same Day Breast Biopsy Results

Histonetters,

I need information on providing same day results on breast biopsy 
specimens. Is anyone out there doing this???

We have a surgeon on staff at our institution that is demanding same day

rush breast biopsy results. We often rush other types of biopsies and 
provide same day results, but for obvious reasons (fatty, Her2 fixation,

etc.) we do not provide this service for breast tissue. I do provide
first 
am results. He has insisted that other institutions are providing same
day 
breast results and is not happy with waiting till 8 am the next morning.
I 
called other labs in our area and they are not doing same day breast 
results for the same reasons we are not. 

Can anyone help me with this? Your help is greatly appreciated!
 
Thanks,
Cindy 

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