I have taken a biopsy and now find that we have no fixative in the practice. Acceptable results have been achieved with samples kept in this way for up to a day. I need to take a biopsy but my patient is a poor anaesthetic risk. Core biopsies taken from subcutaneous sites using a Trucut or a 16G needle and then expressed into formalin can give worthwhile results. They can usually be taken using only local anaesthesia and sedation.
Results are typically much more useful than a fine needle aspirate.
Ideally take more than one sample to increase the likelihood of a representative section. We have had reports of packaging lacking submission forms. On further enquiry this has usually turned out to be because the outer box has been discarded with the paperwork left inside it. The outer box contains four separate packages together with four loose submission forms bearing your practice address label. The forms are not inside the small cardboard boxes inside the Jiffy bags.