Discordance Rate between Thyroid Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology and Histopathologic Diagnosis

Abstract

Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) of the thyroid is a low cost procedure, which can give an accurate diagnosis promptly. The objective of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of Fine needle Aspiration of the thyroid against histopathologic (gold standard) examinations done during January 1994-December 2000. Three hundred forty-four patient records were included in the study. The study revealed the sensitivity and specificity of FNA to be 67% and 84.7% respectively. The FNA was non diagnostic in 0.87% of cases, suspicious in 2% of cases and were diagnostic in 97% of cases. The False negative and False Positive rates in this study were 4.5% and 13.5% respectively. It was concluded that FNA is useful as the initial diagnostic test in the evaluation of thyroid nodules.

[Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2002;16(2):227-231]