Fine needle aspiration techniques
In a recent dvm360® interview, Jenny Fisher, RVT, VTS, explains 2 common techniques when performing fine needle aspirations and when each is appropriate to use.
At the New York Vet show in New York, New York, Jenny Fisher, RVT, VTS, offered insight on the 2 most common methods for fine needle aspirations (FNAs)—the woodpecker and the plunger technique—including when it is best to use each approach.
View the video below for the entire discussion. The following is a partial transcript:
Jenny Fisher, RVT, VTS: The 2 most common techniques for FNAs or needle biopsies [they are the] same things just different terms are the woodpecker which is the needle without the syringe where we do the poke, poke, poke, spin, spin, spin and then the plunger technique which is a needle attached to the syringe which is going to add some negative pressure and some suction. We’re typically going to use those for tumors that we think are mesenchymal in origin and just kind of as a rule of thumb if the mass is more soft or fluctuant we tend to want to woodpecker that.
