Cytohistologic correlation of thyroid nodules.

BACKGROUND

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is widely used as a diagnostic tool to assess thyroid nodules. This study correlates FNA cytology results with surgical pathologic findings.

METHODS

All thyroidectomies performed between 1994 and 2004 were reviewed, identifying 242 patients. Data were obtained for FNA diagnosis, demographics, findings on ultrasound, and histologic findings.

RESULTS

Among 89 patients with a carcinoma on FNA, 89% of cases were verified on final histopathology. Of 78 patients with "follicular lesion" on FNA, only 36% of cases were verified to be malignant at surgery. Only 13% of the 75 cases diagnosed as benign, mostly colloid nodules, on FNA were found to have a carcinoma on histopathology.

CONCLUSION

A cytologic diagnosis of papillary carcinoma has a highly predictive of thyroid cancer. When dealing with follicular lesions the predictive value of FNA drops considerably. However, we found a 13% false positive result to occur in FNA declared benign lesions.