[Usefulness of the determination of thyroglobulin in lymph node aspirates of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma and positive antithyroglobulin antibodies].
OBJECTIVE
We wanted to study the utility of thyroglobulin determination in the washout of fine needle aspiration (FNAB-Tg) of lymph metastatic nodes in patients with papillar thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and positive serum thyroglobulin antibodies (AbTg).


METHODS
We have studied 11 patients (49.9+/-11.8 years old, 70% females) with PTC and positive AbTg in which a whole-body scanning (WBS) after (131)I treatment showed pathological uptake in lymph cervical nodes. An ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (US-FNAB) was performed for cytological research. Needle-washout with 1 ml ClNa 0.9% was employed to determine FNAB-Tg.


RESULTS
In 16/17 suspicious nodes Tg-FNAB concentration was higher than 7 ng/dl (223.3+/-314.2 [7-1009]). AbTg were negative in the washout obtained. WBS was able to detect 94% lymphadenopathies, whereas 76.5% were detected with ultrasound and 70.6% using cytology. The FNAB-Tg was positive in 94% of nodules, which was higher than combining US and FNAB-cytology both together (88.2%). One hundred per cent of pathological nodules were detected using US plus FNAB-Tg.


CONCLUSIONS
FNAB-Tg determination is an useful technique for diagnosis of metastatic lymph nodes of patients with PTC and is unaffected by the presence of serum AbTg.
Martín Hernández
Tomás
T
Servicio de Endocrinología, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, España.
Torres Cuadro
Alberto
A
Yañez Fernández
Pedro
P
Gentil Baldrich
Alfonso
A
Díaz Gálvez
Milagrosa
M
López Elorza
Félix
F
Sendón Pérez
Angel
A
D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*
D001323:Autoantibodies; D013954:Thyroglobulin