title: Fine needle aspiration cytology of thyroid gland diseases.
abstract: From 1982 to 1987, 2,433 lesions of the thyroid gland in 1,796 patients were examined by fine needle aspiration (FNA). Cytopathology classified 66.91% of the aspirates as benign, 10.76% as thyroiditis, 4.89% as suspected (unspecified) neoplasia, 1.31% as positive for malignancy and 16.11% (392) as unsatisfactory. The histologic diagnoses in 257 cases were compared with cytologic diagnoses to determine the accuracy of FNA cytology of thyroid lesions, yielding a sensitivity of 71.43%, a specificity of 100% and an accuracy of 95.09%. This data strongly supports thyroid FNA as an important preoperative diagnostic tool. Follicular carcinomas were difficult to cytologically differentiate from nonmalignant follicular neoplasms, and papillary thyroid carcinomas less than 2 cm in diameter in elderly patients were frequently misdiagnosed or diagnosed only as "suspect lesion."
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, University of Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Altavilla
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pascale
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nenci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D013966:Thyroiditis / Q000473:pathology