Fine needle aspirations in oncology

Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is an established highly accurate and cost effective method for diagnosing lesions in different organs, both superficial and deep seated. The method is minimal invasive without unwanted side effects and the skepticism by clinicians has been overcome by its high accuracy and minimal discomfort to the patient. The most frequent organs examined by FNAC are the breast, lung, thyroid, lymph nodes, abdominal masses and soft tissue tumors. The diagnostic accuracy of FNAC depends on several factors, including site and type of lesion, the experience of the aspirator, quality of preparation and diagnostic scills of cytopathologist. FNAC is usually performed palpation guided but ultrasonography guidance has become more widely used the recent years. With FNAC it is easy to obtain fresh material of deep-seated lesions that is well suited for immunocytochemistry and different molecular techniques i.e. PCR, FISH, flowcytometry and cytogenetics. This is usually performed using radiographic image guidance or in combination with endoscopy (EUS, EBUS).