COMPARISON OF THE FINE-NEEDLE ASPIRATION CYTOPATHOLOGY WITH HISTOPATHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE THYROID GLAND IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING ELECTIVE THYROID SURGERY. DO WE STILL NEED FINE-NEEDLE ASPIRATION CYTOPATHOLOGY? CLINICAL CENTER EXPIRIENCE

AUTHORS:
O. Gasiorowski (Warsaw, Poland) , J. Leszczynski (Warsaw, Poland) , J. Kaszczewska (Warsaw, Poland) , K. Stepkowski (Warsaw, Poland) , P. Kaszczewski (Warsaw, Poland) , M. Baryla (Warsaw, Poland) , Z. Galazka (Warsaw, Poland)
Background:
The thyroid gland is responsible for various of functions, but it is susceptible to pathologies. The golden standard preliminary diagnosing the abnormalities is fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), though it has some limitations, therefore postoperative histopathological examination confirms the diagnosis. The aim of the study was to compare preoperative FNAC results with postoperative histopathological examination.
Methods:
The study is a retrospective study based on the of FNAC and postoperative histopathology examination which were compered and analyzed
Results:
This study included 344 patients between 18-86 years old (mean age: 53.06 ± 13,89), 274 female and 70 male (mean age 52.72 ± 13,86, 54,39 ±14,05 respectively) with 3,9:1 female to male ratio. The statistical significance between FNAC and histopathology results was observed (p=0,0000), 86 (25,00%) patients were diagnosed incorrectly based on FNAC. Sensitivity of FNAC reached 92,31%, and it's specificity achieved 82,08% with positive and negative predictive value of 68,57% and 96,08% accordingly.
Conclusions:
Due to many factors FNAC may lead to over- or underdiagnosis, increasing the chances of complications associated with the selected treatment. Yet, we do not dispose of others tool, therefore FNAC should still remain as the golden standard of preliminary examination.