The present invention relates to operating a biopsy unit. In order to provide an enhanced and facilitated way of controlling a biopsy unit, a control device (10) for controlling a biopsy unit is provided that comprises a support structure (12) with a housing (14), and a user interface unit (16) with a plurality of control elements (18). The control elements are configured to control the movement of a biopsy needle device along at least three moving direction lines. At least two of the moving direction lines are aligned to axes of a Cartesian coordinate system (20) and one moving direction line is aligned to a needle axis direction (22) of an elongated needle device of the biopsy unit, the needle axis direction being inclined to at least one of the axes of the Cartesian coordinate system. For each moving direction line, the housing is provided with a surface portion (24, 26, 28) that is aligned with a respective one of the moving direction lines. The control element for each moving direction line is arranged on the housing on a respective one of the surface portions the control element for the movement along the needle axis direction being provided on an inclined surface portion (28) that is aligned with the inclined needle axis direction.
