Publication:

Correlation between fine needle aspiration cytology and histopathological examination in thyroid swellings-a pilot study

Background Thyroid swellings are an enigma that necessitates either, a partial thyroidectomy and a tissue diagnosis to be followed by completion surgery or straightaway a radical intervention. A preoperative presumptive diagnosis of a thyroid swelling, solitary or otherwise is correlated with the post-surgical histopathological finding in the present study.

Methods 30 patients of thyroid nodules were selected from the head-neck tumour clinic of Dayanand medical college hospital, Ludhiana. Pre-operative fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed and subjects taken for thyroidectomy, partial or total as the case maybe.

Results There were 20 (66.6%) females in the age group 25-65 years and 10 males (33.3%) 19-50 years with thyroid nodules. 86.6%, 26 patients were of follicular adenoma, 10% 3 patients of papillary carcinoma and 3.33% 1 patient of follicular carcinoma. No case in this study was reported as medullary carcinoma. In the cytological diagnosis of follicular neoplasm in 5 cases, 3 were diagnosed as thyroid adenoma, 2 were finally found to be papillary carcinoma. Overall sensitivity of fine needle aspiration was 40%. There was 84.6% agreement in follicular adenoma; 33% in papillary carcinoma and 100% in follicular carcinoma, and overall accuracy was 85.7%.

Conclusion FNAC is an ideal preoperative investigative modality in thyroid swellings with overall accuracy of 85 % and can differentiate preoperatively a benign from a   malignant thyromegaly; and thereby plan extent of surgery, with or without a neck dissection, Maximum cases of follicular adenoma could be easily diagnosed with this aspiration modality.