Aspiration biopsy--a tool in surgical pathology.

A historical overview of the origins of the thin needle aspiration biopsy is given. Current applications of this technique to palpable lesions and lesions requiring various forms of imaging techniques are briefly summarized. The principal advantages of this method of diagnosis are its rapidity, versatility, and applicability to patients with palpable lesions as an office procedure. The procedure is nearly painless, hence readily accepted, and often shortens the anxious wait for a diagnosis. In competent hands, given an adequate sample, the diagnosis can be rendered with an accuracy approaching that of a frozen section. In many instances of intrathoracic and intraabdominal space-occupying lesions, exploratory thoracotomies and laparotomies can be avoided, thus reducing significantly the time of hospitalization. The procedure is safe. Seeding of cancer along the needle track has been reported in a few instances, but the risk of this event must be considered extremely low. Thin needle biopsy may offer the patient an opportunity to participate in therapeutic decisions, for example, in women with breast cancer. Finally, the aspirated sample offers a number of research options that may lead to a better assessment of prognostic parameters and response to treatment in cancer.