2016•Head & NeckRequires access
Value of fine‐needle aspiration in evaluating large thyroid nodules
T. Raguin, Olivier Schneegans, Jean-François Rodier, Pierre‐Philippe Volkmar, Erik Sauleau, Christian Debry, Guillaume Debonnecaze, Jean‐Pierre Ghnassia, Agnès Dupret‐Bories
Open publisher page 11 citations
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The American Thyroid Association (ATA) recommends using ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in order to evaluate supracentimetric and suspect thyroid nodules. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effective use of FNA before surgery for nodules over 3 cm in diameter. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we analyzed the results of ultrasound-guided FNA and postoperative histological analysis in 843 nodules >3 cm. RESULTS: The FNA was informative in 42.6%. The correlation with the final histological analysis was 94.8% for benign nodules and 71.0% for malignant nodules. The FNA had a positive predictive value of 71%, a specificity of 97%, a sensitivity of 56%, and a 4.7% rate of false-negative results. CONCLUSION: Because there is a nonnegligible FNA risk of error, notably allowing the evolution of a cancer in 1 of 20 cases, the FNA data should not delay surgical intervention for potentially suspect nodules >3 cm in diameter. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 32-36, 2017.