Fine-Needle Aspiration (FNA) is a diagnostic procedure used to investigate lumps or masses. In this technique, a thin, hollow needle is inserted into the mass for sampling of cells that, after being stained, are examined under a microscope. The sampling and biopsy considered together are called Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB) or fine-needle aspiration cytology. Fine-needle aspiration biopsies are very safe minor surgical procedures. Often, a major surgical biopsy can be avoided by performing a needle aspiration biopsy instead, eliminating the need for hospitalization. Aspiration is safer and far less traumatic than an open biopsy; complications beyond bruising and soreness are rare. However, the few problematic cells can be too few or missed entirely.

Post-Operative Care and Complications

As with any surgical procedure, complications are possible, but major complications due to thin-needle aspiration biopsies are fairly uncommon, and when complications do occur, they are generally mild. The kind and severity of complications depend on the organs from which a biopsy is taken or the organs gone through to obtain cells.

After the procedure, mild analgesics are used to control post-operative pain. Aspirin or aspirin substitutes should not be taken for 48 hours after the procedure. Since sterility is maintained throughout the procedure, infection is rare. But should an infection occur, it will be treated with antibiotics. Bleeding is the most common complication of this procedure. A slight bruise may also appear. If a lung or kidney biopsy has been performed, it is very common to see a small amount of blood in sputum or urine after the procedure. Only a small amount of bleeding should occur. During the observation period after the procedure, bleeding should decrease over time. If more bleeding occurs, this will be monitored until it subsides. Rarely, major surgery will be necessary to stop the bleeding.

Other complications depend upon the body part on which the biopsy takes place:

• Lung biopsies are frequently complicated by pneumothorax. This complication can also accompany biopsies in the upper abdomen near the base of the lung. About a quarter to half of patients having lung biopsies will develop pneumothorax. Usually, the degree of collapse is small and resolves on its own without treatment. A small percentage of patients will develop a pneumothorax serious enough to require hospitalization and a chest tube. Although it is impossible to predict in whom this will occur, collapsed lungs are more frequent and more serious in patients with severe emphysema and in patients in whom the biopsy is difficult to perform.
• For biopsies of the liver, bile leakages may occur, but these are quite rare.
• Pancreatitis may occur after biopsies in the area around the pancreas.
• In biopsies in the area of the breast, bleeding and bruising may occur, less frequently also infection or pneumothorax.

Surgical Pathology and Diagnosis is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Oxford University Press covering research on the pathogenesis, clinical investigation, medical microbiology, diagnosis, immune mechanisms, and treatment of diseases.

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Best Regards

Eliza Grace

Journal Manager

Journal of Surgical Pathology and Diagnosis