A. Sixten Franzén (26 November 1919 – 15 March 2008) was a Swedish scientist, and a leading cancer researcher of the 1950s and 1960s.
He pioneered fine-needle aspiration cytology, in which suspected cancer cells are removed through a very fine needle for examination under a microscope.
Sixten Franzén was born in Västra Ryd parish [sv] in Östergötland County.
He became a Bachelor of medical sciences in 1943, an MD in 1949, and after being recruited to work in Radiumhemmet, the university's oncology clinic, docent in radiotherapy and tumor diagnosis in 1968.
Colleagues originally criticized him for practicing pseudoscience, but scientific opinion gradually swung to approve the technique; of three groups who developed it independently, his attracted the most attention for their publications.