Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy And Comparison With Paraffin Section Results: A Prospective Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION: In this study, we investigated the diagnostic value of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) to determine thyroid cancer in patients with multinodular goiter or solitary nodules/dominant nodules, and the results from intraoperative FNAB and paraffin sections were compared in order to determine whether intraoperative FNAB could be an alternative to frozen section analysis.
METHODS: 40 patients were included in the study. During thyroidectomy, intraoperative FNAB was performed and results were classified as malign, benign and suspicious/indeterminate. FNAB and paraffin section results were compared in all patients and evaluated in terms of FNAB sensitivity, specificity positive/negative predictive values and overall accuracy.
RESULTS: 40 patients were included in the study. During thyroidectomy, intraoperative FNAB was performed and results were classified as malign, benign and suspicious/indeterminate. FNAB and paraffin section results were compared in all patients and evaluated in terms of FNAB sensitivity, specificity positive/negative predictive values and overall accuracy.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Thyroid nodules found to be malignant as a result of FNAB were also found to be malignant in histopathological evaluation. However, this was not the case for thyroid nodules found to be benign in FNAB. That is, with FNAB, some malignant nodules may be erroneously classified as benign. Therefore, although FNAB has an important role in the management of thyroid nodules, it is not sufficient in the detection of malignant cases.