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2014 Washington Street
Newton, MA 02462
617-243-6000
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Waltham, MA 02453
617-243-5590
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Natick, MA 01760
617-243-5345
159 Wells Ave
Newton Centre, MA 02459
111 Norfolk Street
Walpole, MA 02081maps
978 Worcester Road (rte 9)
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02482
781-235-5200
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25 Washington Street
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481
617-219-1520
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A thyroid fine needle aspiration is a procedure in which we remove a very small sample of thyroid tissue. This involves the insertion of a small needle to the front lower portion of the neck, which we do with ultrasound guidance. We perform this procedure to obtain microscopic samples of thyroid tissue in specific regions of the thyroid gland, which a pathologist will analyze.
Department of Radiology, Newton-Wellesley Hospital 2014 Washington Street Newton, MA 02462 Phone: 617-243-6600
Prior to the exam date, you will be instructed to stop taking any blood-thinning products (such as aspirin, ibuprofen, heparin or Coumadin) three days prior to the exam. This is to avoid any excessive bruising that may occur with any type of needle puncture. No extra arrangements (such as a person to drive you to and from the appointment) are required for this exam.
The sonographer will bring you to the exam room and ask some basic pre-exam questions. You will lie down on an exam stretcher, and we will place a small cushion or rolled towel behind your neck and shoulder region to better extend and expose the lower neck region. We’ll apply warmed gel (water-based to not stain clothing) to the neck region. This maximizes the contact between the skin and the ultrasound transducer on your skin and evaluate the thyroid gland. When this portion of the exam is done, the sonographer will wipe off the gel.
Next, the doctor will clean the area of interest on the neck and place a sterile drape over the area. You will receive a small local anesthesia (lidocaine or Novocaine) at the site on the neck. The radiologist will do multiple passes through the thyroid with the needle and hand off the samples to a technician from cytology.
After the exam is complete, we’ll clean the area again and place a bandage on the injection area. We’ll give you an ice pack for your neck to help keep the swelling down.
The fine needle aspiration portion of the exam will take just about 15 minutes. With the procedure’s setup time, pre-scanning, and explanation, the total time of the entire exam will be about one hour.
The results are usually available in seven to 10 days. Your doctor's office will notify you of the results as soon as they are available.
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