Has your vet recommended a Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) or biopsy? Understand the purpose behind each test so you can confidently make the best decision for your animal.
FNA involves a repeated injection of a small needle (from a regular syringe) inside the tumours allowing some cells to remain trapped inside the needle. The cells inside the needle are then smeared in a slide and analysed at the microscope.
Cytopathology or Cytology is a laboratory technique that analyses under the microscope cells (rather than tissues) collected from the tumour by an FNA. FNA is the most common technique used to collect cells for analysis. And it is often preferred to biopsy, due to the low cost and minimal invasiveness. For most tumours, these techniques can achieve a final diagnosis, especially in correlation with the clinical appearance and presentation and can give a high probability of a specific diagnosis.
FNA advantages
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:• It is a low‑invasiveness, fast, and safe way to evaluate a mass.
• It usually requires no anesthesia or only mild sedation, making it safer for senior animals or those with heart or kidney disease.
• Using a fine needle to collect cells causes minimal trauma, quick recovery, and low infection risk, and most animals can go home immediately afterward.
• FNA is also relatively affordable.
• The collected cells can be analysed quickly through cytology, with preliminary results often available within 1–3 days, helping veterinarians understand the nature of the mass sooner and plan the next steps.
• If you’re worried about a lump, FNA may be the easiest and most effective first step.
