Exploring the Diagnostic Efficacy of Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology in Thyroid Nodules ≥ 4 cm: Results from a Tertiary Health Care Center in Jharkhand

• Main Authors: Rajeev Bhardwaj, Rishabh Kumar Rana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2018-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Recent Surgical and Medical Sciences
• Subjects: fine-needle aspiration cytology; thyroid nodules ≥ 4 cm; histopathologic examination; jharkhand; tertiary health care center
• Online Access: http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0038-1676561
• ISSN: 2455-7420; 2455-0949

Background Any nodules of the thyroid, ≥ 4 cm, are generally associated with false-negative results for malignancy on fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), which generally are confirmed cases of malignancy after histopathologic examinations. Methods A retrospective hospital-based study was done in which data of patients having thyroid lesions ≥ 4 cm were reviewed. We checked the FNAC and histopathologic examination done on these lesions. Ultrasonography (USG)–guided aspiration records were also assessed. Sensitivity and specificity of FNAC for the detection of neoplastic or malignant lesions was determined. Results A total of 192 patients (57 female) were included in study. Preoperative fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies were categorized as negative for malignancy (n = 183, 63%), suspicious (n = 6, 4%), and malignant (n = 4, 2%). Final pathology of nodule was found to be benign in 157 (81.35%) patients, whereas in 36 (18.65%) patients, nodules were found to be malignant. Conclusion In this study, we found the malignancy rate of thyroid nodules ≥ 4 cm to be similar to the accepted malignancy rate of smaller thyroid nodules. We missed 32 cases of malignancy on FNAC. Because of high incidence of thyroid malignancy, all nodules ≥ 4 cm must undergo histopathologic examination.