Comparison of Cytologic Reports of Fine-Needle Aspiration of Thyroid Nodules with Pathologic Results of Thyroid Surgery

Background and Objective: Thyroid nodules are among the most common clinical problems and the application of an inexpensive and accurate diagnostic method prevents performing inessential surgeries. In this regard, the aim of this study was to compare the cytologic report of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of thyroid nodules with the results of thyroid surgery. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all the patients who had referred to the clinic of Beheshti Hospital of Hamedan, Iran, due to thyroid nodule in 2017 underwent FNA. The samples were then sent to the pathology laboratory, and the cytology results were recorded in a checklist. Based on the cytology results, a portion of these cases was referred to undergo surgery. Following that, the sensitivity and specificity of cytology results of thyroid nodules were calculated in comparison to pathology results of the surgery sample. Results: Out of 115 studied patients, 18 (15.65%) and 97 (84.35%) subjects were male and female, respectively. The mean age of the subjects was 40.14±12.34 years. Most cases were in the form of the right-side unilateral nodule (46.1%). The number of benign and malignant cases diagnosed by the pathologist was 73 (63.48%) and 42 (36.52%), respectively. The specificity, sensitivity, as well as positive and negative predictive values obtained from the FNA of thyroid nodules by the pathologist, were reported as 82.98%, 95.56%, 89.04, and 92.68%, respectively. It is necessary to mention that the diagnostics accuracy of the pathologist associated with the results of surgery pathology was 90.43%. Conclusion: Performing FNA enjoys a relatively high specificity and sensitivity as an inexpensive, low-risk, and simple method in the differentiation of benign and malignant cases if it is performed precisely from the site of the nodule with adequate biopsy and properly examined pathologically.