Akhila Sekhar
P G Student, Department of Pathology, S.N. Medical College & Hospital, Navanagar, Bagalkot, Karnataka, India
Abstract
Background; Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) is the gold standard among diagnostic tests for evaluation of thyroid lesions. It is important for preoperative and pretreatment diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions, thus decreasing the incidence of and preventing unwarranted surgeries.
Objectives; This study aims to study and classify various cytomorphological lesions of the thyroid according to The Bethesda System for Reporting of Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) and correlate these with histopathology wherever possible.
Methods; Prospective study to find the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC in evaluating thyroid lesions, from July 2012 to June 2014. Fine needle aspiration done on 150 patients with palpable thyroid lesions were analyzed and classified according to TBSRTC. Cytohistopathological correlation was done in 64 cases.
Results; Out of total 150 cases studied, 118 (78.67%) were non neoplastic, 26 (17.3%) were neoplastic, 4 (2.67%) were suspicious for malignancy, 01 (0.67%) was indeterminate and 01 (0.67%) was inadequate. Cytohistopathologic correlation of 64 cases confirmed 37 cases as non neoplastic, 17 as benign neoplasms and 10 as malignant. Sensitivity, specificity and efficacy of the study for malignant lesions were 84.62%, 99.26 % and 97.99 % respectively.
Conclusion; FNAC is a simple, safe, cost effective and widely accepted modality for evaluation of thyroid lesions especially in Third world countries like India. FNA helps to avoid unnecessary surgery in patients with benign lesions. The suspicious and indeterminate lesions are an area of uncertainty which can be resolved by histopathology.
Key words: Fine Needle Aspiration; Cytology; Thyroid; Histopathology correlation