I think that to some extent fine needle biopsy should be quite a reliable tool to determine cancer. In my case, I had it for my left tonsil and during the ultra sound to the neck, the doctor took some tissue from the lymph nodes for biopsy. That was all the doctors did and after a few days the diagnosis was confirmed. A series of other scans was done to determine the status and stage, etc.The biopsy doesn't hurt at all and I think it is worth giving a try. As my oncologist told me, their usual practice is during the ultra sound, if anything suspicious shows up, the doctor will do the biopsy after getting the patient's written consent. So in my subsequent scan tests after treatment, I felt much relieved already if the doctor released me after the scan without performing the fine needle biopsy because I was almost 99% sure that the scan was clear.

Karen.