Keerthana Muppidi1, Vidya Kedarisetti2, Kanya Kumari Mahankali3
BACKGROUND
Most of the thyroid swellings are non-neoplastic and with normal thyroid hormone.
So, it doesn't require any surgical excision, even though the thyroid swelling is an
indication for surgical excision. The present study was done to evaluate the
accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for the thyroid swellings and
correlate it with the histopathological findings.
METHODS
This is a prospective study. A total of 47 cases were studied. Fine needle aspiration
cytology was done, slides were made and studied. Histopathological examination
of the corresponding 47 cases was also done and correlated with FNAC findings.
Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were calculated.
RESULTS
Age of the patients varied from 20 - 69 yrs. Most of them were in the age group
of 30 - 39 years and 50 - 59 years. The ratio of male to female was 1:4.9. Swelling
of the neck was the most common presentation in most of the patients. On FNAC
33 (70.2 %) cases were diagnosed as colloid nodular goitre, 04 (8.5 %) as
autoimmune thyroiditis, 08 (17.0 %) as follicular neoplasm, 01 (2.1 %) as
suspicious of malignancy, 01 (2.1 %) as papillary carcinoma. On histopathological
examination 25 (53.2 %) cases were diagnosed as colloid nodular goitre, 01 (2.1
%) as fibrous thyroiditis, 01 (2.1 %) as Graves’ disease, 07 (14.9 %) as
Hashimoto’s’ thyroiditis, 06 (12.8 %) as follicular adenoma, 01 (2.1 %) as follicular
carcinoma, 04 (8.5 %) as papillary carcinoma and 02 (4.2 %) as NIFTP (noninvasive
follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary like nuclear features). The
overall sensitivity was 69.2 %, specificity was 97.0 % and accuracy was 89.3 %.
CONCLUSIONS
FNAC is a minimally invasive, highly accurate and cost-effective procedure. FNAC
helps the clinician to diagnose malignant lesions with confidence. It has high rates
of specificity and accuracy but comparatively has less sensitivity. However, it is
very important for the management of patients with thyroid swelling.
