Diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspiration cytology in patients presented with thyroid nodules in Al-Ain city, UAE

Abstract

Background: Thyroid diseases are a common health problem affecting 5% of the general world population. Thyroid nodules represent one of the main clinical presentations of many of the thyroid diseases, including benign and malignant lesions. Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is considered one of the main techniques used for the evaluation of thyroid nodules. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the accuracy of fineneedle aspiration (FNA) biopsy in the diagnosis and evaluation of thyroid nodules. Patients and Methods: The study is a retrospective study that involves 131 patients presented with a thyroid nodule and attended the surgical departments in Tawam Hospital. Results: Our results showed that the majority of patients (68.6%) were younger than 45 years. Females were pre-dominant, with 88.4% compared to males (11.6%). According to the Bethesda system, 4.87% of the cases were classified as Category I, 32.92% as Category II, 21.95% as Category III, 10.97% as Category IV, 14.63% as Category V and 14.63% as Category VI. Final pathological reports revealed that all the 4 cases of Category II (benign) (100%) were confirmed to be non-cancerous. In addition, 8/18 of cases (44.4%) classified as Category III (atypia of undetermined significance) were confirmed to be malignant and one (5.6%) diagnosed with the atypical follicular lesion, whereas the other cases were diagnosed with non-cancerous lesions. In contrast, all cases 9/9 suspicious for follicular neoplasm (Category IV) were confirmed to be malignant. Similarly, all cases 12/12 with Category V (suspicious for malignancy), and all cases categorised as malignant (VI) in FNA were also confirmed to be malignant. Conclusion: The results highlighted the importance of using a combined approach that consists of clinical, radiological as well as pathological approaches for a more accurate evaluation of the thyroid lesions. In addition, the results also showed that FNAC is a sensitive tool that can detect malignant thyroid nodules.