Comparison of conventional and ultrasonologically guided fine needle aspiration cytology of the solitary nodule of the thyroid gland

Abstract

Background: Solitary nodule of the thyroid can be a manifestation of a diversity of diseases affecting the thyroid gland. FNAC is the initial diagnostic investigation of choice in the work up of such patients. The study aimed to assess the impact of adding ultrasonographic assistance to FNAC in patients with such nodules.Methods: 100 patients with solitary nodule of thyroid were included in the study. 50 patients each underwent ultrasound guided FNAC and conventional FNAC. The patients proceeded to definitive surgery and the histopathological report was compared to the FNAC report.Results: The sensitivity (90.0 % v/s 83.3 %), negative predictive power (97.6 % v/s 95 %) and accuracy ( 98 % v/s 96%) of USG guided FNAC was higher than that of conventional FNAC. The false positivity rate (10 % v/s 16.7 %) of USG guided FNAC was found to be lower than that of conventional FNAC. These findings, which apparently showcase the advantages of USG guided FNAC, were not proven to be statistically significant.Conclusions: The database of our retrospective study regarding age and sex incidence, clinicopathological features and therapeutic outcome was comparable to other studies in various literatures.