FNA is a suction technique, so the pathologist only sees what is sucked into the syringe and as individual cells. Some cancers are too sticky to be sucked up very much, and some only look cancerous BY THEIR GROUP BEHAVIOUR rather than visual appearance of any one cell. Soft tissue sarcomas are often not diagnosed by FNA for both these reasons. FNA is most useful when it is answering a specific question. For example, "is their inflammation" or "are the lymphocytes (possible lymphoma) or mast cells (possible mast cell tumour) present. Not so good for "I wonder what this lump might be!" Therefore, to use it wisely, there must be a list of possibilities constructed first, and then the appropriate tests to rule these in or out is detailed.
_________________ _______________ Dr Ken Wyatt BSc BVMS FANZCVS Specialist Veterinary Oncologist Perth Veterinary Oncology
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