Fine-needle aspiration biopsy with a vacuum test tube.

A simple, low-cost, automatic aspiration system that makes use of vacuum test tubes designed for the drawing of venous blood has been used for real-time ultrasound (US)-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of 13 cysts (breast), an abscess (liver), and five solid (breast, liver, thyroid) masses. Because it allows the operator to perform aspiration with one hand while holding the real-time US transducer with the other, and because creation of the suction is associated with no significant displacement of the needle, this approach has allowed sampling of lesions less than 1 cm in diameter. No complications have occurred.