Cyto-histologic discordancy in patients undergoing thyroidectomy at Aga Khan University Hospital

Abstract

Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) findings are the basis upon which decision and type surgery is made. Therefore the diagnostic accuracy and utility of FNAC being such an integral tool in management of thyroid lesions must be evaluated for cyto-histologic discrepancy from time to time as a quality assurance measure. The objective was to compare thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) with final histopathological findings at in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. This was a cross-sectional retrospective study at Aga Khan university hospital, Nairobi. Cyto-histologic discrepancy was found in 19(25%) of cases with false positive and negative rates at 9% and 16%. False positive results constituted 7(9%) while 12(16%) were false negative findings. The higher cyto-histological discordancy than seen previous studies could be due to sampling error and cytological mis-interpretation. Our study found higher than expected cyto-histologic discrepancy.