title: Prospective study to investigate the use of fine needle aspiration techniques in UK veterinary practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To document the fine needle aspiration methods used by UK veterinary practitioners for the assessment of cutaneous masses and relate this to the achievement of a representative sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  An internet-based questionnaire was designed and publicised in the UK national veterinary press, at a national surgical meeting, and in letters to veterinary surgeons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and seventy respondents replied to the questionnaire: 58 · 2% sampled cutaneous masses on the basis of appearance or behaviour; 41 · 3% sampled every cutaneous mass. Practitioners with a greater oncological caseload or who graduated more recently were more likely to recommend fine needle aspiration for every cutaneous mass (P = 0 · 019 and P = 0 · 0002 respectively); 66 · 5% of respondents applied suction during fine needle aspiration; 89% of all respondents used a 2 or 5 mL syringe in combination with a 21 or 23 G needle. There was no statistically significant association between achievement of a representative sample and syringe (P = 0 · 64) or needle size (P = 0 · 63).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fine needle aspiration is widely used in UK practice, but may be underutilised in practices with lower oncological caseloads. Survey participants reported a high rate of representative samples obtained using all the commonly used techniques. Further work is required to confirm these observations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery, Animal Health Trust, Lanwades Park, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 0UF.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Bowlt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Blackwood
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Starkey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013522:Surgery, Veterinary / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom