细针穿刺活检（FNAB）是评估可疑软组织肿块的诊断手段。尽管它在区分良性与恶性肿瘤方面具有合理的敏感性、特异性和阳性预测值，但确切地对原发性软组织肿瘤进行分类可能具有挑战性。某些肿瘤构成了“陷阱”，增加了诊断的挑战。本综述详细介绍了软组织细胞病理诊断中的挑战，包括陷阱以及更重要的是通过整合临床细节、关键细胞形态学特征和审慎应用辅助技术来克服这些挑战的方法。© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is a diagnostic modality for the evaluation of suspicious soft tissue masses. Despite its reasonable sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value in differentiating benign from malignant neoplasms, the exact subtyping of the primary soft tissue tumours can be challenging. Certain tumours constitute "pitfalls" and add to the diagnostic challenge. This review provides a detailed account of the diagnostic challenges in soft tissue cytopathology, including pitfalls and, more importantly, the ways to overcome these challenges by integrating clinical details, key cytomorphological features and judicious application of ancillary techniques.© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.