Fine needle aspiration biopsy in the management of thyroid nodules

ABSTRACT

During a 15 month period, aspiration biopsy cytology was carried out on 54 patients presenting with solitary thyroid nodules. The cytological findings were compared with the histopathologic diagnoses in the surgically biopsied cases. The procedure showed a high accuracy in the differentiation of benign lesions from malignant ones, and in the specific diagnosis of the types of lesions. The method safe, simple and more specific than other currently available non-histologic techniques, used in thyroid nodule evaluation and management