BREAST CANCER: FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION

Fine needle aspiration is a technique to extract cellular material from certain tissue sections. The doctor inserts a hollow needle into the tissue from which a sample is to be taken. For a breast examination, the doctor uses a thin, hollow needle to aspirate the sample area. By carefully moving the needle, cellular material can thus be extracted from the area of suspect breast tissue. This sample is then examined in a special laboratory. Experienced cytologists are able to classify cells under a microscope relatively precisely and confirm or reject any suspected diagnoses from earlier procedures.

In the case of a punch biopsy, a thin cylinder, usually controlled by ultrasound, is used to remove and examine tissue samples. This method is a little more painful but it also produces more detailed results than a fine needle aspiration and is therefore used when the findings of previous tests are inconclusive.