Aspiration Health Article

Definition

Aspiration means to draw in or out using a sucking motion. This medical term has two meanings, depending on how it is used:

• Aspiration can mean breathing in a foreign object (such as sucking food into the airway).
• The term can also refer to a medical procedure that removes harmful or misplaced substances from an area of the body. These substances can be air, body fluids, or bone fragments. An example is removing ascites fluid from the abdomen.

Aspiration as a medical procedure may also be used to remove tissue samples for a biopsy. This is sometimes called a needle biopsy or aspirate (for example, aspiration of a breast lesion).

Related topics:

• Foreign object in the airway
• Foreign object in the nose
• Aspiration pneumonia

References

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Bergasa NV. Approach to the patient with liver disease. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 149.

Muss HB. Breast cancer and differential diagnosis of benign lesions. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 208.

Pisetsky DS. Laboratory testing in the rheumatic diseases. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 278.