*NAILA ZAHIR, **S. KHALID ASHRAFI, *SHAIKH SAJJAD

ABSTRACT

Thyroid nodules are extremely common with 4-7% of the adults having palpable nodules and upto 50% having nodules visible on ultrasound 1,2,3,4. Core needle biopsy had been used extensively in the United States but failed to gain widespread acceptance but of small but definite risk of complications like bleeding, nerve injury, tracheal perforation and tumour implantation 5. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was first described by Kun in 19876. It was introduced into clinical practice by Ellis and Martin in the 1930s 7. Fine needle aspiration is the best technique short of surgery for evaluation of thyroid nodule. It is inexpensive, quick with minimal risk of complications 8, 9. Published results claim a sensitivity and specificity of over 90% leading some authors to recommend fine needle aspiration as the initial test in the evaluation of any thyroid nodule 10,11,12. Whether fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodules should be interrelated as a screening tools or a diagnostic procedure is not clear and depends on the diagnosis given. However the ultimate goal of thyroid fine needle aspiration should be to differentiate between nodules that are definitely non-neoplastic and those that are definitely malignant or that must be examined by histologically for diagnosis. The ability of fine needle aspiration to identify patients who will benefit from surgery is entirely dependent on the accuracy of the test. Fine needle aspiration thyroid has been estimated to have a sensitivity for malignancy between 65-98% (mean 83%), a specificity between 72-100% (mean 92%), a false positive 0-7.7% (mean 2.9%) and false negative 1.3-11.5% (mean 5.2)13.

For Full text contact to:
Prof. Dr. Farah Mansuri
editor@annals-ashkmdc.org

* Department of Pathology
** Department of ENT