Diagnostic value of ultrasound in comparison with the pathologic results of fine-needle aspiration of thyroid nodules for rapid diagnosis of thyroid malignancies in patients referred to Baqiyatallah Hospital

Abstract

Background and Aim: Various studies have reported that 4-7 percent of adults with palpable thyroid nodules that 50-70 percent of it’s diagnosed with high-accuracy sonography. Although most thyroid nodules are non-cancerous and do not require treatment, a small percentage of them are associated with a potential risk of malignancy, which is an important early diagnosis by ultrasound or pathology. The present study aimed to compare the ultrasound with the pathologic results of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of thyroid nodules for the rapid diagnosis of thyroid malignancies in patients referred to Baqiyatallah Hospital. Methods: The study population consisted of 100 (80 female, 20 male) patients with thyroid nodules in the age range of 19-82 years referred to the radiology ward of Baqiyatallah Hospital who were studied by the cross-sectional method. All patients were first scoring by ultrasound, then fine needle aspiration with thyroid nodule ultrasound was performed, and the specimens were referred to the pathology department for further evaluation. Results: The pathologic results from fine-needle aspiration showed that only 8 of the 100 patients studied had malignant nodules that, by ultrasound scoring, 7 patients had 4 scores and 1 patient had 3 scores. However, the other 92 patients with benign nodules 57.60% of patients had score 1, 30.43% of patients had score 2 and 11.97% of patients had score 3. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it seems that ultrasound scoring is useful in the rapid diagnosis of thyroid nodules and prevent unnecessary thyroid nodule FNA.