Role of thyroid scan and FNAC in evaluation of solitary thyroid nodule

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out from May 1990 to November 1995 in the departments of surgery and pathology of a teaching hospital. The role of thyroid radioisotope scan and fine needle aspiration and cytology [FNAC] was studied in 172 patients with clinically solitary thyroid nodule [STN], all of whom underwent surgery. These patients were divided into two groups, Group A [72 patients] which underwent thyroid scan without FNAC and Group B[100 patients] which was subjected to both. Thyroid scan turned out to be dispensable except in hyperthyroidism where it had 100% sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in diagnosing hyperfunctioning thyroid adenoma. FNAC reaffirmed its superior value by low false negative [1.4%], high specificity [97.5%] and accuracy [96.5%]. FNAC however is liable to be overruled by clinical data especially when dealing with the cytologically "indeterminate" subgroup