Before aspiration, move the plunger of a 10cc syringe to 2cc
mark. Push the plunger holder of the Tao Aspirator™
all the way until it is caught by a lock. Snap the
syringe onto the syringe holder.
Preset the plunger withdrawal position for proper negative
pressure by adjusting the ribbed regulating knob (unscrew the
knob, move to a desired position and then tighten).
Hold the Tao Aspirator™ in a pencil-grip manner by using
the thumb, index, and middle fingers. The ring finger
holds the ring of the syringe holder to ensure a solid grip.
Insert the needle into a mass. Press the release
button to draw back the plunger in order to apply proper
negative pressure for the aspiration.
Move the needle tip within the mass using wrist control in
an up-and-down movement 15-30 times until a small amount of
aspirated material appears in the needle hub.
Pull out the needle from the skin and remove the syringe
from its holder by lifting the plunger.
Push the plunger forcibly to express the aspirated material
in the needle hub onto slides for direct smear preparations.
The remaining material is collected by rinsing the needle
and syringe with CytoRich Red fixative (AutoCyte, Elon
College, NC). Cytocentrifuge and/or cell block
preparations are then prepared.
