title: The thyroid nodule: evaluation of fine-needle biopsy.
abstract: Sixty-three consecutive unselected patients with a solitary cold nodule of the thyroid were submitted to surgery. Prior to surgery they all had clinical evaluation and a fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy of the nodule. Results of this study show that the FNA biopsy was correct in predicting cancer in 12 of 13 cancers for a sensitivity of 92%. When the nodule was benign, the FNA biopsy was right in 42 of the 50 benign nodules for a specificity of 84%. In comparison the clinical criteria alone were correct in suspecting only eight of the 13 cancers for a sensitivity of 62%, while correctly identifying 39 of the 50 benign nodules for a specificity of 72%. An association of the clinical criteria with the results of the FNA biopsy would have identified all the cancers in our group.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery