Consistency analysis of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and histopathology results in thyroid nodules

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroid nodules are considered as a frequent clinical problem. The great majority of thyroid nodules are benign; however malignancy probability is predicted to be 5-10%. The inconsistency between ultrasonography and fine-needle aspiration (FNA) findings is one of important problems in management of thyroid nodules. Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the consistency of ultrasonography, FNA and histopathology findings in thyroid nodules. Patients and Methods: In this descriptive study, 93 patients who were candidate for thyroid surgery were included. Data on ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of the thyroid and histopathologic results before and after surgery were considered. The Cramér’s V and Fisher’s exact tests were conducted for this study. Results: In patients whose ultrasound (US) results were low-suspicious, we observed a significant correlation between FNA and pathology results (Cramér’s V = 0.574, P = 0.037). However, relationship between FNA and pathology was not accessible among patients whose ultrasonography results were intermediate suspicious or high-suspicious due to insufficient number of samples. Conclusion: In our study, a significant correlation was observed between FNA and pathology results in low-suspicious nodules.