Needle biopsy of nodular thyroid disease.

To evaluate nodular thyroid disease, 150 patients underwent 169 fine needle biopsies (FNB) and recently 28 have also had core needle biopsies (CNB). Multiple biopsies were required in 19 patients because of multiple lesions, reaccumulation of cysts, follow-up of nodules failing to regress, or inadequate material. Adequate material was obtained in 97 per cent of FNB and 92 per cent of CNB. FNB and CNB agreed in 20 of 28 cases. There were no complications with FNB and one patient (4%) hemorrhaged with CNB. Forty nine patients underwent thyroidectomy. Postoperative diagnoses include papillary carcinoma (9), follicular carcinoma (2), lymphoma (2), medullary carcinoma (1), metastatic carcinoma (1), benign nodular goiter (14), follicular neoplasm (15), and thyroiditis (5). Sixty per cent of patients avoided surgery, 61 per cent of operated specimens contained neoplasia and 31 per cent contained malignancy. Eighty seven per cent of malignancies were identified at the initial evaluation. FNB had 86 per cent sensitivity for neoplasia and 44 per cent specificity for neoplasm (94% for papillary carcinoma). CNB had 89 per cent sensitivity and 67 per cent specificity for neoplasm. FNB and CNB are useful means of assessing thyroid nodules for the presence of cancer. They can decrease the need for diagnostic thyroidectomy. However, clinical evaluation must still be used in conjunction when determining the need for thyroidectomy.