Fine-needle aspiration for thyroid nodules:a comparative study of cytology and histology in 74 cases

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of fine-needle aspiration(FNA) for thyroid nodules.Methods The cytological and histological results of 74 patients who had undergone FNAs for thyroid nodules,followed by thyroidectomy,were compared to evaluate the accuracy of cytological diagnosis of thyroid FNA and analyze the common causes of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis in thyroid cytopathology.Results Benign lesions were histologically diagnosed in 48 patients(65%),malignant tumors in 22 cases(30%) and benign tumors in 4 cases(5%).Cytological diagnosis of benign and malignancy was confirmed histolopathologically in 96% and 94%,respectively.Fifteen discrepant cases came mainly from the group of FNA diagnosis of follicular neoplasm,and the discrepancies resulted mainly from cytodiagnostic errors and overlapping cytological features between adenomatoid nodule and follicular neoplasm.Conclusion Despite some limitations,thyroid fine-needle aspiration is a reliable diagnostic method of assessing thyroid nodular disease,especially in differentiation of benign lesion and malignant lesion.