Characteristics of thyroid fine needle aspiration liquid-based cytology: pathological diagnosis of 2386 cases
LIN Jian-long
ZHONG Guo-dong
WANG Hong-cheng
LIANG Fei-yue
Abstract：Objective To summarize and analyze the morphological characteristics and diagnostic value of fine needle aspiration(FNA) cytology in thyroid nodules.Methods A total of 2386 patients with thyroid nodules underwent fine needle aspiration and liquid-based cytology,and the cytological results were reported by thyroid Bethesda system.361 patients that underwent surgical resection were reviewed and their cytological features and diagnostic parameters were analyzed.Results Among the 2386 FNAC cases,285 cases (11.9％) could not be diagnosed and named as Class Ⅰ;1128 cases (47.3％) were benign lesions,as Class Ⅱ;179 cases (7.5％) were atypical lesions,as Class Ⅲ;70 cases (2.9％) were follicular tumors,as Class Ⅳ;188 cases (7.9％) were suspicious malignant tumor,as Class Ⅴ;536 cases (22.5％) were malignant tumors,as Class Ⅵ.The histological findings of 361 cases by FNAC were benign lesions in 74 cases (20.5％),malignant tumors in 287 cases (accounting for 79.5％ of resection specimens).The incidence of malignant tumors in the cytology positive group (Ⅲ,Ⅴ,Ⅵ) was 96.1％ (269/280),significantly higher than that in the negative group (class Ⅰ and class Ⅱ) which was 22.2％ (16/72) (P ＜0.01).The sensitivity of FNAC was 94.4％ and the specificity was 83.6％;the accuracy was 92.3％,the positive predictive value was 96.1％,and the negative predictive value was 83.3％.The reasons to miss diagnosis in FNAC were tumor size ≤ 0.2 cm,fibrosis,calcification,cystic degeneration and etc.Therefore,no tumor cells were pumped by FNAC leading to false negative in cytological test.Conclusion Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration liquid-based cytology test is an accurate and effective method for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules,and it could significantly improve the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules.
Keywords：ThyroidFine needle aspirationLiquid-based cytology testPathological diagnosis
Publication Date：2018-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 112-117 )