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Subject Area

Pathology

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objectives The study aimed to correlate the ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (US-FNAC) findings with histopathology results in the spectrum of thyroid lesions and to find the adequacy and diagnostic accuracy of US-FNAC, so that unnecessary thyroidectomies can be avoided in benign lesions. Background Thyroid nodules are common clinical findings, with a reported prevalence of 4–7% in the general population. US-FNAC is a useful diagnostic tool for different thyroid lesions. Patients and methods A retrospective study was carried out over the period of 4 years. The US-FNAC results were correlated with the available histopathological results to calculate the accuracy and determine the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of US-FNAC. Results On cytological examination, of 270 cases, 151 (55.9%) were benign, 24 (8.9%) were atypia of undetermined significance, 18 (6.7%) were suspicious for malignancy, four (1.5%) were malignant, and 73 (27%) were inadequate. On histopathology examination, 27 (42.2%) cases were multinodular goiter, and five (7.8%) cases were hyperplastic nodules, five (7.8%) cases were lymphocytic thyroiditis, six (9.4%) cases were thyroid adenoma, four (6.3%) cases were papillary microcarcinoma, 16 (25%) cases were papillary carcinoma, and one (1.5%) case was a medullary carcinoma. It was found that there is a significant correlation of histopathological with cytological findings. US-FNAC had 81.8% sensitivity, 79.3% specificity, and 80.3% accuracy. Conclusion US-FNAC is a good screening test that has high accuracy and is cost-effective to avoid unnecessary thyroidectomies.

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