title: Intralesional saline injection for effective ultrasound-guided aspiration of benign viscous cystic thyroid nodules.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vigorous saline injection for viscous cystic thyroid nodules.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen patients who underwent ultrasound-guided aspiration for viscous cystic thyroid nodules using a saline injection were included in our study. After failing to aspirate the cyst by the usual method, we vigorously injected saline into the cyst in multiple directions to break up and liquefy the viscous cystic contents to enable aspiration. The initial and the residual volume of the nodule were calculated, and the volume reduction rate and the time taken to perform the aspiration were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean volume of the cystic nodules before aspiration was 11.0 mL (range, 1.2 to 26.0 mL), while the postaspiration volume was 4.2 mL (range, 0.2 to 14.5 mL). The mean aspirated volume was 63.7% of the initial volume. The mean procedure time was 12.4 minutes (range, 5 to 26 minutes). There were no significant complications related to the procedure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A vigorous saline injection followed by aspiration can be a useful method to aspirate viscous cystic thyroid nodules as a prestep for further intervention or simple management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Sook
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0399-7956
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Thyroid Center, Daerim St. Mary's Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin Yong
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8163-4624
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Hee
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6435-7357
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Shin
keywords: Biopsy, fine-needle; Thyroid nodule; Ultrasonography, interventional