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Performing And Processing Fna Of Anterior Fat Pad For Amyloid, Vinod B. Shidham, Bryan Hunt, Safwan S. Jaradeh, Alexandru C. Barboi, Sumana Devata, Parameswaran Hari

Department of Pathology

Historically, heart, liver, and kidney biopsies were performed to demonstrate amyloid deposits in amyloidosis. Since the clinical presentation of this disease is so variable and non-specific, the associated risks of these biopsies are too great for the diagnostic yield. Other sites that have a lower biopsy risk, such as skin or gingival, are also relatively invasive and expensive. In addition, these biopsies may not always have sufficient amyloid deposits to establish a diagnosis. Fat pad aspiration has demonstrated good clinical correlation with low cost and minimal morbidity. However, there are no standardized protocols for performing this procedure or processing the …