Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Comparing needle techniques for lymph node samples in dogs and cats
By Whitlock, James et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2021·Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: A comparison of cytological quality between fine-needle aspiration and non-aspiration techniques for obtaining ultrasound-guided samples from canine and feline lymph nodes.
Plain-English summary
A study looked at how well two different methods of taking samples from lymph nodes in dogs and cats worked. One method, called fine-needle aspiration (FNAC), was found to produce better quality samples that were more likely to provide useful information for diagnosing health issues compared to the non-aspiration method (FNNAC). The FNAC samples had more cells, which helps in making a diagnosis. This means that if your pet needs a lymph node sample, the FNAC method might give your veterinarian better results.
People also search for: dog lymph node biopsy · cat lymph node sampling · fine needle aspiration for pets · lymph node cancer diagnosis in dogs and cats
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In small animal medicine, ultrasound-guided fine-needle lymph node sampling plays a pivotal role in the diagnostic investigation of a range of pathologies including the staging of neoplastic disease. Traditionally fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) has been employed to produce samples, but fine needle non-aspiration cytology (FNNAC) has been suggested to generate superior sample quality and diagnosticity. METHODS: In a randomised control trial, 104 canine and feline lymph nodes were each sampled by both techniques. The cytological samples were then submitted to pathologists who were blinded to the technique used to generate each sample. They determined if the sample was diagnostic or non-diagnostic and graded the sample in terms of the degree of cellularity, cellular preservation and haemodilution. RESULTS: It was found that lymph node samples obtained using the FNAC technique were more likely to be diagnostic (p = 0.043) than samples obtained using the FNNAC technique. In addition, FNAC samples had significantly higher cellularity than FNNAC counterparts (P = 0.043). No significant difference in cell preservation or haemodilution was found between samples from the FNAC and FNNAC groups. CONCLUSION: In this study, FNAC was superior to non-aspiration cytology for the sampling of canine and feline lymph nodes as it generated a higher number of diagnostic samples with greater cellularity.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33729570/