Is ultrasound VAB worth it? The data says yes.

Evidence-Based Benefits¹ of VAB in U/S-Guided Breast Biopsies: Better Outcomes

Larger Samples For More Confidence In Your Diagnosis

As compared to 14G spring-fired core needle devices

Improvement in sampling accuracy^1,2

Reduction in underestimation rate^1,2

Reduction in false-negative rate^1,3

Core Needle vs VAB Sample Weights⁴

bar graph showing relative average sample weights of Mammotome VAB devices versus 14 gague core needle devices

tissue samples of core needle device vs Mammotome VAB devices

Benefits of VAB for Pathology and the Treatment Pathway

VAB can help get more tissue with each sample even with similar gauge sizes. A case study found that larger tissue samples mean more tissue to send for additional pathology testing from the same location. Additional pathology testing can lead to a more tailored treatment approach.^7,8,9

Touchless tissue retrieval eliminates the need to touch the sample each time, decreasing risk of crush artifact and fragmentation.¹ Larger, unfragmented samples may provide an improved chance to obtain more abundant and contiguous histologic features for diagnostic analysis. In one case study, this allowed the pathologists to distinguish between ADH and DCIS grade 1 based on the larger VAB sample size.⁷