A fine needle biopsy IS a biopsy, and yes since it is of a lymph node (which is obvious) it will contain lymph tissues(cells, ie. LYMPHOCYTES, and fluid). The question for the pathologist who reads the cells from the needle aspiration is...are any of them malignant or do they have abnormal nuclei. You are undergoing a general anesthesia procedure for something that can be determined from a simple needle aspiration. For sure you should not wait and see...that just isn't a good idea, but excising the node under a general may not be necessary either. IF they find some malignant cells (hopefully not)...then the question for the doctor is where is the primary? Excising the node isn't going to give him any more information than the FNB if they find abnormal cells.

Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.