Combined Application of Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology with BRAFV600E Mutation Screening in the Detection of Different Grades of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the application of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the thyroid coupled with the screening of serine/threonine-protein kinase B-Raf (BRAF) gene mutation in the detection of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). From October 2016 to June 2019, 1244, liquid-based specimens originated from the patients diagnosed with PTC and benign lesions were collected from the Pathology Department of First Central Hospital of Baoding. BRAFV600E mutation was screened in all the liquid-based specimens using quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction. Combined with the pathological results after surgery, the results of FNAC alone and FNAC combined with BRAFV600E screening results in PTC of different grades were compared and analyzed. Of the 1244 cases, there were 818 cases with definite cytological diagnosis and 426 cases with uncertain diagnoses. Combined with BRAFV600E screening, 36 out of 90 cases with atypical cells and 150 out of 223 suspected PTC were diagnosed as PTC. In conclusion, coupled with BRAFV600E mutation screening, the pre-operative detection rate of PTC can be increased in patients with atypical cells and suspected PTC which cannot be confirmed by pre-operative FNAC.