title: Thyroglossal duct cysts: diagnostic criteria by fine-needle aspiration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To document the cytologic diagnostic criteria of fine-needle aspirations of thyroglossal cysts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Midline cervical masses were studied by fine-needle aspiration, and those 11 thyroglossal cysts that were resected served as a baseline for the evaluation of aspirates from 33 similar lesions that were not removed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Physicians' offices, hospital outpatient clinics, and the aspiration service of a university department of pathology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four patients noting a mass in the anterior neck or found by physicians to have such a mass.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-one aspirations (second aspirates in seven patients); surgical removal of the cysts in 11 patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Aspirates were examined for cells, other particulate matter, and any extracellular material in the background.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Smears from thyroglossal cysts are low in cellularity, and inflammatory cells are more numerous than epithelial cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fine-needle aspiration contributes to an accurate preoperative diagnosis of thyroglossal cysts, allowing a Sistrunk procedure to be performed in these patients rather than an inappropriate local resection.
authors.affiliation: Pathology Department, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shaffer
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Oertel
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Oertel
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D013955:Thyroglossal Cyst / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery