Whats invovled during a fine needle biopsy of the thyroid?

This is how I do it: After local anesthesia is given (an injection just under the skin), a very fine needle is guided into the thyroid nodule through ultrasound visualization. I repeat the needle pass 4 times. Each pass only lasts for a few seconds. It is very well tolerated and it takes 20 minutes or so in all. There are no special precautions after the biopsy, other than wearing a band-aid for 2-3 hours.

Clean : Skin with aneseptic. Pinch from local anesthesia. 3 or so insertions of very small needle directed by ultrasound. Done. Easy test. I do hundreds every year.