Planning the trip

Make the trip once.

Santa Barbara is about 95 miles from the office on US-101 south along the coast, normally roughly two hours. That is a real drive, so the point is to make it once and go home with the answer already moving. The fine needle aspiration is done and read in the same office, in one appointment.

01

Book the first slot of the day

An early appointment means an easier run in both directions and you are home well before evening.

02

Bring the imaging you have

Any ultrasound, mammogram or CT report from a Santa Barbara clinic. It tells Dr. Nadelman what she is looking for before the needle goes anywhere.

03

The biopsy and the microscope

Ultrasound, local anesthesia, a few passes with a fine needle, then the slides stained and read in the office lab while you are still there.

04

Drive home with it settled

If the sample is thin she takes another the same visit. Preliminary findings usually reach you within 24 hours.

Why make the drive

The reading is the diagnosis.

There are hospitals and imaging closer to Santa Barbara, and for plenty of things they are the right answer. A fine needle aspiration is the case where the person reading the slides changes how long it takes, because the reading is the diagnosis.

What the drive gets you

  • One trip instead of two. The sample and the reading happen in the same visit.
  • The specialist holds the needle. Dr. Nadelman is board certified in cytopathology and performs the aspiration herself.
  • A thin sample caught on the day. She knows in minutes and repeats it there and then.
  • Preliminary results within 24 hours. Sent to you and to your Santa Barbara physician.

When it is not worth the drive

  • It is clearly a simple cyst. Your own doctor may be able to settle that locally with imaging alone.
  • You cannot travel. House calls are available anywhere in California, so ask before ruling it out.
  • It needs more tissue than a needle takes. Some diagnoses need a core or surgical biopsy, and she will say so.
  • You already have a clear answer. If a prior FNA settled it, a second opinion on the existing slides may be enough.

Ask before you drive. A short phone call establishes whether a fine needle aspiration is the right test for what your doctor found, and whether a house call makes more sense than the trip.

Fine needle aspiration in Santa Barbara

What Santa Barbara patients are usually sent for.

The needle is thinner than the one used for a blood draw. There is nothing to stitch afterwards and nothing to heal, and most patients go straight back to their day.

Thyroid

Thyroid nodule biopsy

Only 4 to 6 percent of thyroid nodules turn out to be cancer. Ultrasound guided sampling, graded on the Bethesda system, read on site. Thyroid biopsy

Breast

Breast lump biopsy

Most breast lumps are benign. If it is a cyst, draining it with the same needle often makes the lump disappear during the visit. Breast biopsy

Lymph nodes

Lymph node biopsy

Usually a node is simply doing its job. When it is hard, fixed, or has not gone away, cells answer the question in one appointment. Lymph node biopsy

Two routes from Santa Barbara

One report, two very different timelines.

If your Santa Barbara physician finds a thyroid nodule, a breast lump or a swollen lymph node, the usual path is a hospital radiology referral. One doctor takes the sample, a different one reads it, and the gap between them is where the waiting happens.

The hospital referral

Two visits, two specialists, two waits

  • Day 0. Referral and imaging
  • Day 3. A radiologist takes the sample
  • Day 12 to 14. Pathology report reaches your doctor
  • If the sample is short. You find out two weeks later and start over

About two weeks of waiting

With Dr. Nadelman

One appointment

One visit, one specialist, one trip

  • Day 0. Ultrasound, biopsy, slides read on site, consultation
  • Same day. If the sample is short she knows immediately and takes another
  • Within 24 hours. Preliminary results to you and your doctor
  • No second trip. You talk to the person who made the diagnosis

An answer inside of two days

If 95 miles is not possible, she comes to you.

Dr. Nadelman performs house call FNA biopsies anywhere in California. She brings the ultrasound and the staining setup, so a homebound patient in Santa Barbara gets the same procedure and the same turnaround at home.

310.702.6701

1125 S. Beverly Drive, Suite 602
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Monday to Friday, 10 to 6

Santa Barbara questions

What patients ask first.

How far is the office from Santa Barbara?

It is about 95 miles from Santa Barbara, normally roughly two hours on US-101 south along the coast. The office is at 1125 S. Beverly Drive, Suite 602, in Los Angeles, with parking in the building garage.

There is no incision and no general anesthesia, so most patients go straight back to normal activity. Dr. Nadelman will say on the day if anything about your case suggests otherwise.

No. You can schedule directly with the office. If you do have a referring physician, Dr. Nadelman sends them the report and is glad to talk through the findings with them, and because she reads the slides herself that conversation happens with the person who made the diagnosis.

No. The slides are stained and read under the microscope while you are still in the office, because Dr. Nadelman is the cytopathologist as well as the physician doing the biopsy. Preliminary findings are usually available within 24 hours and go to you and to whichever physician you name.

Worth reading before you drive up. her fine needle aspiration practice in Los Angeles, the insurance the office accepts, and the questions patients ask most. She also samples salivary gland, soft tissue and other lumps, bumps and nodules.

Near Santa Barbara. She also sees patients from Ventura, Ojai and San Luis Obispo. Or see every area she covers.

One appointment, one specialist, one answer.

Next-day appointments are usually available, and house calls are available anywhere in California.

310.702.6701

1125 S. Beverly Drive, Suite 602
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Monday to Friday, 10 to 6

What patients say

4.9 stars across Google and Yelp

Reviews from people who came in with a lump and left with an answer. Video testimonials and letters from referring physicians are on the testimonials page.

CELINA NADELMAN, M.D.

  • Biopsy and interpretation by a Board Certified Cytopathologist

  • Ultrasound-guided and palpation-guided FNAs

  • Preliminary diagnosis within 24 hours in most cases

  • Next day appointments available

  • We accept most major PPO insurances and Medicare.

  • Patient and physician time savings

  • Relief of patient anxiety

  • Medical, technical and fiscal resource conservation

  • Appropriate and expeditious triage of the patient and their sample

  • Diagnostic ultrasound services

WE ARE HERE TO HELP

Request an appointment with The Cancer Biopsy Doctor, Celina M. Nadelman, M.D. today.

Did you know we do house calls in the state of California? We can travel to you anywhere in California! Speak to our office about the details.