The clinical characteristics and pathological results of the thyroid nodules by US-FNAB:a study of 1,241 cases / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the diagnostic value of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy(US-FNAB)for thyroid nod-ules.Methods:The clinical characteristics and cytopathological diagnosis of patients with thyroid nodules in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital were analyzed retrospectively;the results of the cytopathological and pathological diagnoses were compared and an-alyzed.Results:Of the 1,241 US-FNAB samples,the ratio of men to women with thyroid nodules was 13.83(257/984).The incidence of thyroid nodules gradually increased from the age of 20 years and declined after the age of 60 years.The nodules,which were less than or equal to 1.0 cm in size,accounted for 51.57%(640 cases),and Thyroid Imaging Reporting And Data System(TIRADS)classifica-tion 4 accounted for 86.38%(1 072 cases).Of cyto-pathological diagnoses,22.00%(273 cases)were non-diagnostic,9.75%(121 cases) were benign,30.62%(380 cases)were atypia with undetermined significance,32.15%(399 cases)were suspicious for malignancy,and 5.48%(68 cases)were malignant.In the 302 patients who underwent surgery,the number of cases of clear diagnoses,unavailable di-agnoses,and atypia of undetermined significance were 203,21,and 78,respectively.In the 203 cases of clear diagnoses,the sensitivi-ty,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value,precision,and misdiagnoses following US-FNAB of thyroid nodules were 100.00%(201/201),50.00%(1/2),99.50%(201/202),100.00%(1/1),99.51%(202/203),and 0.49%(1/203),respectively.In the 78 cases that were atypia of undetermined significance,the malignancy rate was 70.51%.Whether the atypia of undetermined signifi-cance was malignant or not was related to the TIRADS classification(P<0.05),and not related to the age,sex,tumor size,or location of the nodules(P>0.05).Conclusions:US-FNAB has high diagnostic value for thyroid nodules and is worthy of being popularized widely.If it replaced some intra-operative frozen sectioning procedures,it may reduce intra-operative waiting time and financial burden of pa-tients.