Aspiration
Key points
- The medical term has two meanings, depending on how it is used.
- It can refer to breathing in a foreign object (such as sucking food into the airway).
- The term can also refer to a medical procedure to remove harmful or misplaced substances from a body cavity, such as air, body fluids, or bone fragments.
- This procedure may also be used to remove tissue samples for a biopsy, sometimes called a needle biopsy or aspirate.
Definition
Aspiration means to draw in or out using suction. The medical term has two meanings, depending on how it is used. It can refer to breathing in a foreign object (such as sucking food into the airway).
The term can also refer to a medical procedure to remove harmful or misplaced substances from a body cavity, such as air, body fluids, or bone fragments. (An example is removing ascites fluid from the abdomen.) This procedure may also be used to remove tissue samples for a biopsy, sometimes called a needle biopsy or aspirate. (For example, aspiration of a breast lesion.)
Written and revised by
Gerald Hurowitz, M.D.
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