Last week had my appointment for a soft tissue biopsy.was refereed from my dentist to Hospital?

Question

Having gone through this procedure, not very nice and my mouth is still sore after the stiches, was wondering if you across the pond know anything about, The brush biopsy.

Answer 1

The oral brush biopsy was introduced to the dental profession in 1999, overcoming the limitations of traditional oral cytology. This biopsy method utilizes a brush to obtain a complete transepithelial biopsy specimen with cellular representation from each of the three layers of the lesion: the basal, intermediate, and superficial layers. Unlike cytology instruments, which collect only exfoliated superficial cells, the biopsy brush penetrates to the basement membrane, removing tissue from all three epithelial layers of the oral mucosa. The oral brush biopsy does not require topical or local anesthetic and causes minimal or no bleeding or pain. The brush biopsy instrument has two cutting surfaces, the flat end of the brush and the circular border of the brush. Either surface may be used to obtain the specimen.. In a recent study, paired, same-site samples of tongue tissue were obtained from patients, first by brush biopsy and then by surgical punch biopsy. The study demonstrated that the brush biopsy technique, unlike cytology, sampled the full thickness of oral epithelium and obtained epithelial cells similar in representation to surgical 6 mm punch biopsy specimens.

Brush biopsies are utilized routinely in the detection of precancer and cancer in other organ systems. Examples of well-known applications of brush biopsies include fiberoptic bronchoscopy (bronchial), ureteral retrograde brush biopsy (renal or ureter tissue), cholangiography (bile duct stricture), pancreatic ductal brush biopsies and others, including endometrial, nasopharynx, and GI tract applications (rectal, gastric, esophageal, colon). Their use in the oral cavity has only recently been introduced as OralCDx testing.

The improved accuracy of the OralCDx brush biopsy over traditional manual cytology is due, in part, to the fact that the entire thickness of the lesion is sampled- cells from all layers are collected. Furthermore, the analysis of the specimens is aided with a highly specialized neural network-based image processing system specifically designed to detect oral precancerous and cancerous cells, detecting as few as one or two abnormal cells scattered among tens of thousands of normal cells. The core technology behind the OralCDx computer was originally developed for the missile defense system. Without the computer-assisted analysis, the abnormal cells are often overlooked with just manual inspection. The patented brush biopsy tool, which samples all of the layers of the lesion, together with analysis of oral brush biopsies assisted with sophisticated computers make the OralCDx test highly accurate. In two independent studies, the first conducted in the U.S. at 35 academic dental centers whose results were published as the cover story in the Journal of the American Dental Association, and the second, at a prestigious German university, OralCDx was shown to have a sensitivity of greater than 95% and a specificity over 90%. hope this helps mate

Answer 2

I hadn't heard of it before but I found you this link about it

http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic701.htm