RT Journal
A1 Damron, Timothy A.
T1 Vacuum-Assisted Biopsy Is Useful for Breast Tissue, But How Useful Is It for Soft-Tissue Tumors in Orthopaedics?Commentary on an article by Zarah Mohr, MD, et al.: “Vacuum-Assisted Minimally Invasive Biopsy of Soft-Tissue Tumors”
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2012
FD January 18
VO 94
IS 2
SP e11 1
OP 3
DO 10.2106/JBJS.K.01314
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.K.01314
AB 
In their article, Mohr et al. compare the ability of ultrasonography-guided vacuum-assisted biopsy (a technique that has become widely utilized for breast biopsy and can be performed in an outpatient setting) and open incisional biopsy (which is performed in the operating room) to characterize soft-tissue tumors encountered in orthopaedics. They examine selected cases in which chemotherapy or radiation therapy was not used prior to the biopsy and excision was performed shortly after the biopsy, thus narrowing the number of vacuum-assisted biopsy cases from 116 to seventy-five and the number of open biopsy cases from 110 to seventy-four. The vacuum-assisted biopsy technique achieved results that were comparable to those of the open technique, albeit with slightly lower accuracy, sensitivity, and negative predictive value. A diagnostic sample was successfully obtained in 99% of the vacuum-assisted biopsy cases.