FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION

Smear Preparation

1. Label all slides with patient's NRIC (full NRIC, last 4 digits not accepted) and initials on the frosted end of the slides using a hard lead pencil.
2. If more than one site is sampled, it is mandatory to indicate clearly the site sampled on each slide and slide container.
3. Prepare 1 air-dried and 1 spray/alcohol-fixed smears per pass. Alcohol-fixed smears should be fixed immediately with cytology spray fixative or immersed in 95% ethanol before air-drying occurs.
4. Submit a maximum of 2 passes (4 slides: 2 air-dried and 2 spray/alcohol-fixed) from each site.
5. If fluid is aspirated (e.g. from a cyst or abscess), aspirate the specimen directly into a sterile specimen bottle.

Needle-rinse Formalin for cell block

1. It is recommended to take additional passes for specimens with unknown primary or require ancillary tests such as immunocytochemistry, SSTP and EGFR.
2. Rinse material into 10% buffered neutral formaldehyde and indicate in the CPOE order the solution used and fixation start time.
3. The specimen must be fully submerged with formalin to approximate specimen volume of 10:1 or higher.

5 working days (without ancillary test)

​Daily