Fine needle aspiration biopsy of solid intraocular tumors: indications, instrumentation and techniques.

We have performed fine needle aspiration biopsy of 21 solid intraocular tumors as a diagnostic technique prior to treatment of these tumors. Indications for biopsy included major diagnostic uncertainty, suspected cancer metastasis to the choroid without other evidence of systemic malignancy, and patient insistence on biopsy confirmation of the diagnosis prior to treatment. This paper presents the instrumentation and techniques that we have used in our intraocular fine needle aspiration biopsies and reviews the complications of biopsy that we have encountered.