Usefulness of Telfa pads in the histologic assessment of stereotactic-guided breast biopsy specimens

Stereotactic core-needle biopsies (SCNBs) are being increasingly used for the diagnosis of breast lesions. Focal mammographic calcifications are often considered significant and sampled by SCNB. We compared diagnostic outcomes in breast tissue cut from 59 core biopsy blocks using Telfa pad embedding with those of 48 routinely embedded blocks. Specifically, we addressed the total length of core tissue in the first histologic section, the continuity and average core length in the first section, the frequency with which mammographic calcifications were confirmed histologically, and the number of sections per case needed to assure histologic-mammographic correlation. The first level of Telfa pad-embedded material showed significantly greater aggregate tissue length, more core continuity, and greater average core length. With routine embedding, we missed 3 of 17 radiologic calcific foci. With Telfa pad embedding, we detected all of the 24 calcific foci and consumed 50% fewer slides in doing so. We conclude that Telfa pad embedding of SCNBs of the breast provides an improved, cost-effective approach to diagnosis and histologic-radiologic correlation.