title: Combination of aspiration and non-aspiration fine needle biopsy for cytological diagnosis of thyroid nodules.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Good cytological sample is very important for the cytological diagnosis of thyroid nodules. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adequacy of prepared samples by the combination of aspiration and non- aspiration fine needle biopsy.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this descriptive - analytical study, sampling was done simultaneously for each patient in fine needle aspiration and non-aspiration biopsy. The sufficiency of samples was studied using Mair Scoring System. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used for the data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred two cases (289 females, 13 males) with the mean age of 43.83±12.9 years were evaluated. Inadequate samples were 31 (10.3%) in fine needle aspiration, 40 (13.2%) in non-aspiration and 13 cases (4.3%) by using two methods together (p=0.0001). The average total score was 6.00±2.17 in fine needle aspiration and 5.76±2.26 in non-aspiration method (p=0.08), and 6.6±1.98 in the combination of the two methods (p<0001 comparing with one method alone).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results show that using both methods simultaneously in each nodule considerably increases the efficiency of samples for cytological diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. ; Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. ; Infertility and reproductive Health Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Zhila
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Torabizadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Ozra
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Akha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yaseri
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hosein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Shahidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mokhtare
keywords: Cytology; Fine needle aspiration; Fine- needle- non-aspiration; Technique; Thyroid nodule; fine needle biopsy