Fine-Needle Aspiration of the Spleen as an Aid in the Diagnosis of Splenomegaly

Results from transabdominal fine-needle aspiration of the spleen in 28 dogs and 5 cats are reported. Splenomegaly was present in 79% of these patients, and splenic masses were present in 15%. Extramedullary hematopoiesis, the most common cytologic diagnosis, was found in 24% of the patients and was associated with a variety of diseases including immune hemolytic anemia, hemangiosarcoma, and bone marrow hypoplasia. Hematopoietic neoplasms including lymphosarcoma, plasmacytoma, myelogenous leukemia, and systemic mastocytosis were diagnosed in 24% of the patients. Other diagnoses included malignant neoplasia of undetermined cell type and lymphoreticular hyperplasia. Splenic aspirates were considered normal in 18% of the animals. Two (6%) of the aspirates contained liver tissue rather than spleen. Histologic evaluation of splenic tissue was performed in 42.5% of the patients. All cytologic diagnoses correlated well with their final histologic diagnoses. Complications from the aspiration procedure were not observed, even in thrombocytopenic patients.