title: Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of clinically suspicious thyroid nodules with an automatic aspirator: a novel technique.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is a simple technique for the investigation of suspicious thyroid nodules. However, low success rates are reported in the literature. The aim of this prospective study was to compare the clinical performance and impact of an automatic aspirator, referred to here as Aspirator 3, to those of the manual technique for the FNAB of clinically suspicious thyroid nodules.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred nine consecutive patients with 121 clinically suspicious thyroid nodules underwent a biopsy twice of the same site with the clinically approved Aspirator 3 and with the manual technique. The number of follicular cell formations and the total number of follicular cells in the aspirate were counted using the ThinPrep® method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With the Aspirator 3, the total number and the mean number of extracted cell formations were significantly higher than the values achieved with the manual technique (total: 3222 vs. 1951, p=0.02; mean: 27 vs. 16). The total number of cells that were biopsied was also higher when the Aspirator 3 was utilized (47,480 vs. 23,080, p=0.005). Overall, the Aspirator 3 was superior in 65 biopsies, and the manual technique was superior in 39 biopsies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In terms of cell formations and the total number of cells aspirated, the Aspirator 3 was superior to the manual technique. Further, the Aspirator 3 was more convenient to use and had a greater precision in needle guidance.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. james.nagarajah@uk-essen.de
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nagarajah
authors.forename: Sien-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Sheu-Grabellus
authors.forename: Jamshid
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Farahati
authors.forename: Kamer A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kamruddin
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bockisch
authors.forename: Kurt Werner
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Görges
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*