A system and method to position and orient an excised breast tissue specimen on a support structure in a duplicate anatomic orientation relative to the operated breast is provided. One embodiment of the system includes an anatomically representative map of the breast under investigation. The system allows a surgeon to suture, ink, or otherwise fix the excised specimen on the map in accordance to its original position and orientation in the operated breast or organ. A radiogram of the excised specimen can be taken that shows the location of calcifications on a grid with radiopaque markers. The system allows a pathologist to cut through the specimen utilizing the map as a template in order to perform histological analysis and correlate the position and orientation of each slice to its anatomic position in the breast and thereby direct a precise and anatomically accurate re-excision by the surgeon if so required.
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/461,433 filed Apr. 10, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.
