Effect of naked-eye assessment on the diagnosis of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration in thyroid nodules / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of naked-eye assessment (NA) of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology(US-FNAC) smears, which was performed by a trained non-cytological physician.@*Methods@#A total of 290 smears of FNAC in 143 thyroid nodules were used to evaluate the value of NA by an assistant with more than two years experience of intervention with ultrasound guidance. NA results such as the background of smear (bloody/non-bloody), thickness (thick/thin), as well as the contents (granulated/non-granulated) were recorded. The correlation between NA and cytological results was analyzed. Number of cells under microscopy, the non-diagnostic rate, and the significance between benignity and malignancy with different features of specimens were compared.@*Results@#There was no significant difference between the NA background and cytological findings(P=0.707, 0.200, 0.705, respectively). There was significance in number of cells, non-dianostic rate between thick and thinner specimens (P=0.000, 0.001, respectively). However, there was no significance in benignity and malignancy between thick and thinner specimens (P=0.385). There was significance in cytology results between the granulated and non-granulated smears(all P=0.000). The difference was found in 51.1% of the smears with granulates were malignancy in cytology. While 77.8% of the non-granulated smears were ultimately diagnosed as benignity.@*Conclusions@#The NA could be performed by a trained non-cytological physician and contribute to preliminary predictions of cytology effect.