Guidelines of the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology for fine-needle aspiration procedure and reporting. The Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology Task Force on Standards of Practice.

As medical care moves toward outpatient and managed care, FNA becomes an indispensable biopsy procedure that can replace many surgical biopsies. The reliability of the procedure is maximized by rapid assessment of the aspirates and the team approach (the cytopathologist, radiologist, and clinician working closely together). Proper training and maintenance of competency are central to success. QA and QI programs are excellent means to monitor competency and improve performance. Aspirators who persistently produce a high rate of unsatisfactory aspirates (> 15%) should be identified and given remedial training. Clear, precise communication and rapid turn-around time for reporting are critical.