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Performing a FNA, convenient and relatively painless

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We will often assess your pet's sample whilst you wait.

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A diagnostic population of cells seen under microscope after a FNA.

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"Like Pushing a Needle Into a Haystack" - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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"Like Pushing a Needle Into a Haystack" - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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Just like the old metaphor referring to needles and haystacks, it is possible that an FNA may fail to yield the information we seek.

Reasons for this may include:

The nature of the lump itself - some types of growths lend themselves to more ready diagnosis because of their tissue characteristics.

Unrepresentative samples - some lumps lack uniformity and give mixed information on FNA, results in these  situations may be suggestive rather than definitive.

Processing errors -  cells are fragile and many things can disrupt them on the way to the lab.  Rest assured we take every precaution to hopefully avoid this.

You should be prepared for the possibility that your  pet's samples will be deemed non-diagnostic at the laboratory.  In the event an FNA does not yield adequate diagnostic information for your pet, a larger tissue sample maybe required, the pros and cons of this approach will be discussed as necessary.

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Why Bother With Needles,  Can't We Just Remove the Lump?

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Why Bother With Needles,  Can't We Just Remove the Lump?

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Whilst this might seem expedient, if we are to achieve our aim of curing your pet we need to know exactly what we’re dealing with first.
When performing surgery on lumps we need to ensure we plan and prepare carefully.  In the case of skin cancers, their expected behaviour (and our approach to treatment) will be dictated by what type of lump it is: some may require additional biopsies or more complex screening tests to make sure they haven’t spread to other organs already.  You may also be offered the option of seeing a specialist surgeon if we feel that this gives the best chance of a curative surgery.
Conversely, knowing that a growth is benign prior to surgery might facilitate us taking a more conservative approach, with the result that your pet experiences a shorter recovery time with less discomfort or perhaps avoids the need for surgery altogether.

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A biopsy is a procedure in which a tissue sample is obtained from the lump and examined by microscope.  There are a couple of methods we often use, the least invasive of these is called a Fine Needle Aspirate (FNA)

During a FNA a small needle is inserted into the lump and cells are obtained for examination.  This procedure can often be performed in the consult whilst your pet is awake, since it is relatively painless.  Often we will assess your pet's sample whilst you wait, however not all lumps can be easily diagnosed by FNA.  Think of this as a screening test. A specialist pathologist maybe required to form a final diagnosis.

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Dogs and cats commonly develop lumps and growths on their skin.  Sometimes these are cancerous, but in the majority of cases they are benign skin changes.  Overall, skin cancers constitute the most common type of cancers seen in dogs and the second most common in cats (Vail and Withrow 2007).
Obviously the earlier we can diagnose and treat a cancerous skin lump, the better the outcome is likely to be for your pet.  Simply examining a lump’s gross appearance will not always give us enough information to tell you whether it is cancerous or not.  So, how do we do this?