Fine needle aspiration minibiopsies.

During a five-and-one-half-year period, cell buttons were prepared from 393 (29%) of 1,375 fine needle aspirates. Of these, 237 were diagnostically helpful and confirmatory in conjunction with the smears. In 103 (7% of all cases), the tissue fragments in the cell button allowed a definite diagnosis or classification of the tumor that otherwise would not have been possible. The architecture that is often preserved in these minibiopsies is identical to that seen in larger tissue samples. The specimens lend themselves well to special histochemical and electron microscopic studies. Wider use of this established and simple procedure is encouraged.