Expert moves to quell cancer needle test fears

A PATHOLOGY expert has reassured women that a needlestick test used in cancer diagnosis — criticised in the report into the misdiagnosis of Rebecca O’Malley — is effective when appropriately used.

However, Dr Conor O’Keane, vice dean of the faculty of pathology at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland said use of fine needle aspiration (FNA) should not be used to confirm benign breast disease.

“It is not appropriate to confirm benign disease but it is to evaluate a lump. A trained operator, usually a surgeon or a radiologist, places the needle in the lump and would be confident they had aspirated [drawn] cells,” said Dr O’Keane.