Clinical safety of percutaneous ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of adrenal gland lesions in 19 dogs

Objective : To evaluate the safety of fine-needle aspiration of adrenal gland lesions in dogs and to characterise the risks in a subset of patients with cytologically or histopathologically diagnosed phaeochromocytoma. Materials and Methods : Retrospective review of medical records of dogs that underwent percutaneous ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of adrenal gland lesions between August 2014 and December 2016. Nineteen dogs were identified, with three undergoing bilateral adrenal gland aspiration and one dog undergoing aspiration twice, yielding 23 cytology samples in total. Data collected included signalment, concurrent medical conditions, current medications, blood pressure and heart rate before adrenal fine-needle aspiration, imaging characteristics of the adrenal gland lesions and any clinically apparent procedure-related complications. Results : Phaeochromocytoma was diagnosed in nine of 19 dogs, including one dog with bilateral phaeochromocytoma. One dog developed ventricular tachycardia following aspiration of an adrenal gland lesion cytologically consistent with a phaeochromocytoma. Clinical Significance : Percutaneous ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of adrenal gland lesions appears to be relatively safe, even in phaeochromocytoma, but further data are required to lend more weight to this finding. Minimally invasive aspirates could be considered as part of the diagnostic algorithm in the investigation of an incidentally detected adrenal gland lesion of uncertain clinical significance.