A Technical Tip for Maintaining the Orientation of Circular Resection Specimens

In the excision of potentially malignant skin lesions, it is a surgeon's duty to assist the pathologist in correctly orientating the specimen submitted for histological examination. The use of marker sutures by surgeons to indicate the orientation of resection specimens is commonplace, but we realized that the excision of a small, circular lesion with a neat, circular excision margin can be the undoing of even the most attentive surgeon, if the correct orientation is lost before the marker is placed. We present a simple extra step that a surgeon can take to ensure that his or her specimen's orientation is preserved.