The Silverman needle, designed in 1938, was first to be used to take prostatic tissue by Peirson and Nickerson and they published their cohort of 36 patients (Peirson and Nickerson, 1943). They were able to achieve satisfactory histological specimens in 86% of cases. A specific comparison of the Franzen and Silverman needles was undertaken by Hendry and Williams and their findings were published in 1971 (Hendry and Williams, 1971). The Franzen needle provided cytological diagnosis and carried advantages of causing less morbidity and could be carried out on an outpatient basis, however the likelihood of missing a cancer was greater compared with using the Silverman needle. The.
