Fine-needle aspiration effects on benign lymph node histology.

The histology of 28 lymph nodes with benign hyperplasia were assessed for evidence of the effects of fine-needle aspiration prior to biopsy. Only 43% of the lymph nodes showed evidence of prior aspiration. This consisted of needle tracts occupying less than 5% of any one section in ten cases, and 10% in two cases. In none of the 28 lymph nodes did prior fine-needle aspiration interfere with the histologic evaluation. The authors conclude that fine-needle aspiration does not interfere with subsequent histologic evaluation of lymph-adenopathy.