Week 5: Prostates & Autopsies

This was a fun and interesting week! The prostate biopsy chip slides from last week were evaluated, and more testing was done. On Wednesday and Thursday, two people from the company were here to do some trials with the new chips. This time, real prostate biopsies were taken, and sections were used to evaluate the quality of the tissue. Each chip holds up to 6 biopsies inside the little grooves. The color of the dividers (blue, yellow, and black) orient each sample to distinguish where in the prostate each biopsy came from. It also allows six biopsy cores to be placed on one slide which saves space and resources [1]:

Instead of all 12 of the slides on the left (although that is a little excessive), you just need two with the BxChip. It also seems to keep the cores flat and aligned. This is what a magnified core might look like [2]:

The tissue fits right inside the little grooves (although it can be slightly difficult to get them in there), and then the whole chip can be cut on the microtome after embedding, just like normal tissue. I got to speak with both a pathologist and a business person who were involved in the creation and development of the biopsy chips. It was interesting to hear from them and see the testing to validate and improve the product.

Seeing a prostate biopsy for the first time, I was amazed at how much technology is used in the process. An ultrasound probe through the rectum was attached to a rotating arm that would guide the surgeon to the correct locations. The biopsy gun fit nicely in a tunnel that allowed the collection of tissue. Prostate biopsies also usually include a pre-op MRI of the prostate for the imaging to be registered to the ultrasound information. For these biopsies, some of the tissue was placed in a BxChip, and some biopsies were collected in the normal fashion: placing each single biopsy in a jar of formalin.

I also got to watch a partial autopsy that was performed this week. This autopsy was done to determine the exact cause of death. The doctors had a few diagnoses that were possible, so the autopsy was to determine which of these the patient actually had. Today, I went to the autopsy conference and the gross conference, and I got to see the dissection of lungs which was pretty awesome.

Pathology has been a really interesting and very new experience for me! I have gained a more practical understanding of the medical field and where we fit as biomedical engineers. These last 5 weeks have exposed me to so many new areas of medicine, and I have learned more about the evolution of technology and processes in medicine. Hopefully I’ll get to see many more exciting things in the next two weeks!

[1] https://leavitt.md/solutions.php

[2] https://www.lumea.org/lab-solutions/

Rose Buchmann