V. L. Ramesh1 , R. Ramu2 , C. Narayana Murthy3
BACKGROUND: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is widely considered as the diagnostic technique of choice in the assessment of thyroid swellings. AIMS: The aim of this study is to determine the diagnostic precisions of FNAC of thyroid swellings performed and compare with other regions. SETTING AND DESIGN: The retrospective study of FNAC of thyroid swellings performed in the Department of Pathology Sri Devaraj Urs medical college, Kolar, during the period January 2000 to December 2004. The FNAC findings were correlated with the histopathological diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty seven patients who had undergone FNAC during the study period were retrieved and information about age, sex, FNAC and Histopathological diagnoses were reviewed. The cytological results were classified as inadequate, benign, suspicious, and malignant. The histopathology diagnosis was classified as non-neoplastic and neoplastic. RESULTS: A total of 127 FNACs of thyroid lesions were done during the study period. The results of the FNA cytological diagnosis showed that two (1.6%) of the patients had FNAs, which were inadequate for cytological assessment, 114(90.6%) patients had benign lesions, 8 (6.8%) had lesions that were suspicious for malignancy, and three (1.4%) had malignant neoplasms. The correlation of the FNAC findings with the histopathological diagnosis, showed that our FNAC diagnostic accuracy rate was 96.3%, with a sensitivity of 65%, and specificity of 99.9%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study are comparable with the other data and demonstrate that FNA cytology is a sensitive, specific and accurate initial diagnostic test for thyroid swellings.
