Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relationship of age and gender with cytopathological findings of thyroid nodules diagnosed by FNAC: a retrospective study

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Clinical and Experimental Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In Afghanistan, there are no reliable epidemiological data available about thyroid cytopathology and its possible relationship with the age and gender of patients. Therefore, we conducted this study to outline this relationship and the importance of fine needle aspiration cytology in this regard. A retrospective review study was conducted including 686 consecutive medical records of thyroid nodules diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology in a span of five years. Out of 686 consecutive patients with thyroid nodules included in this study, 566 were females and 120 were males. Most of the thyroid nodules diagnosed were benign lesions with female predominance. These nodules were commonly arising in between 3rd and 6th decades of life in both the genders with mean age of 42 ± 13 years in females and 52 ± 15 years in males. Thyroid malignancy was commonly diagnosed in middle-age females, however in males, it was frequently diagnosed in older age with a peak at 7th decade. Most of the malignant nodules were solid and complex with no purely cystic nature. In both the genders, thyroid nodules were commonly arising in the right thyroid lobe (52.3%), followed by left (35.7%), isthmus (8.7%) and bilateral (3.2%). Fine needle aspiration cytology remains the modality of choice for the diagnostic evaluation of nodular lesions of thyroid. In contrast to the data reported around the world, thyroid malignancies, in our study, were diagnosed in relatively older age groups with peak incidence in the 5th decade of life for females and 7th decade for males.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Abbreviations

FNA:

Fine needle aspiration

FNAC:

Fine needle aspiration cytology

US-FNA:

Ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration

PG-FNA:

Palpation-guided fine needle aspiration

TBSRTC:

The Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopatholog

AUS/FLUS:

Atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance

FN/SFN:

Follicular neoplasm/suspicious for follicular neoplasm

SM:

Suspicious for malignancy

TN:

Thyroid nodule

USA:

United States of America

FMIC:

French medical institute for mothers and children

ILMS:

Integrated laboratory management system

SPSS:

Statistical package for social sciences

References

  1. Monaco SE. Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology. In: Pathobiology of human disease: a dynamic encyclopedia of disease mechanisms. 2014.

  2. de Cursi JAT, Marques MEA, de Assis-Cunha-Castro CAC, Schmitt FC, Soares CT. Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a reliable diagnostic tool for small breast lesions (≤ 1.0 cm): a 20-year retrospective study. Surg Exp Pathol. 2020;3(1):29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Diamantis A, Magiorkinis E, Koutselini H. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy: Historical aspects. Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica. 2009;42(2):191–7.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Jhala D, Wee A, Tse G, Baloch Z. Fine-needle aspiration cytology: an advancing horizon. Pathol Res Int. 2011;2011: 281930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gilani SM, Levi A. Fine needle aspiration cytology of a neck mass. Cytopathology. 2020;31(6):622–3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Todsen T, Bennedbaek FN, Kiss K, Hegedüs L. Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid nodules. Head Neck. 2021;43(3):1009–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Taha I, Al-Thani H, El-Menyar A, Asim M, Al-Sulaiti M, Tabeb A. Diagnostic accuracy of preoperative palpation- versus ultrasound-guided thyroid fine needle aspiration cytology: an observational study. Postgrad Med. 2020;132(5):465–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Erkinuresin T, Demirci H. Diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology of thyroid nodules. Diagn Berl Ger. 2020;7(1):61–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Haugen BR. 2015 American thyroid association management guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer: what is new and what has changed? Cancer. 2017;123(3):372–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Rossi ED, Bizzarro T, Martini M, Straccia P, Lombardi CP, Pontecorvi A, et al. The role of fine-needle aspiration in the thyroid nodules of elderly patients. Oncotarget. 2016;23(7):10.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lan L, Luo Y, Zhou M, Huo L, Chen H, Zuo Q, et al. Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of thyroid cancer with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and core-needle biopsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Endocrinol. 2020;11:44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Alseddeeqi E, Baharoon R, Mohamed R, Ghaith J, Al-Helali A, Ahmed LA. Thyroid malignancy among patients with thyroid nodules in the United Arab Emirates: a five-year retrospective tertiary Centre analysis. Thyroid Res. 2018;11(1):17.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Anand B, Ramdas A, Ambroise MM, Kumar NP. The bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology: a cytohistological study. J Thyroid Res. 2020;16:8.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Alshaikh S, Harb Z, Aljufairi E, Almahari SA. Classification of thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytology into Bethesda categories: an institutional experience and review of the literature. CytoJournal. 2018;15:4.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Gill AS. Importance of FNA technique for decreasing non-diagnostic rates in thyroid nodules. Head Neck Pathol. 2017;17:6.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Coorough N, Sippel R. Fine needle aspiration of the thyroid: a contemporary experience of cases. J Surg Res. 2011;170(1):48–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Muratli A, Erdogan N, Sevim S, Unal I, Akyuz S. Diagnostic efficacy and importance of fine-needle aspiration cytology of thyroid nodules. J Cytol. 2014;31(2):73.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Basharat R, Bukhari MH, Saeed S, Hamid T. Comparison of fine needle aspiration cytology and thyroid scan in solitary thyroid nodule. Pathol Res Int. 2011;23(2011):10.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Yuk JS, Kim JM. Uterine fibroids increase the risk of thyroid goiter and thyroid nodules. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Lee KL, Chen TJ, Won GS, Chou YH, Chiou HJ, Wang HK, et al. The use of fine needle aspiration and trends in incidence of thyroid cancer in Taiwan. J Chin Med Assoc. 2018;81(2):164–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Bessey LJ, Lai NBK, Coorough NE, Chen H, Sippel RS. The incidence of thyroid cancer by fine needle aspiration varies by age and gender. J Surg Res. 2013;17:5.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Nandedkar SS, Dixit M, Malukani K, Varma AV, Gambhir S. Evaluation of thyroid lesions by fine-needle aspiration cytology according to bethesda system and its histopathological correlation. Int J Appl Basic Med Res. 2018;8(2):76–82. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijabmr.IJABMR_169_17.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Tepeoğlu M, Bilezikçi B, Bayraktar SG. A histological assessment of the Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology (2010) abnormal categories: a series of 219 consecutive cases. Cytopathology. 2014;25(1):39–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/cyt.12051.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Ginat DT, Butani D, Giampoli EJ, Patel N, Dogra V. Pearls and pitfalls of thyroid nodule sonography and fine-needle aspiration. Ultrasound Q. 2010;26:7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Zhang F, Oluwo O, Castillo FB, Gangula P, Castillo M, Farag F, et al. Thyroid nodule location on ultrasonography as a predictor of malignancy. Endocr Pract. 2019;25(2):131–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Sengul I, Sengul D, Egrioglu E, Ozturk T. Laterality of the thyroid nodules, anatomic and sonographic, as an estimator of thyroid malignancy and its neoplastic nature by comparing the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) and histopathology. J BUON. 2020;25:6.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The authors received no funding for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory, French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul, Afghanistan

    Haider Ali Malakzai, Abdul Latif Khairy, Ahmed Maseh Haidary, Nasrin Hussaini, Sayed Hakim Ahmady & Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar

  2. Histopathology and Cytopathology Section, Human Medical Laboratories (HML), Kabul, Afghanistan

    Haider Ali Malakzai

  3. Department of Radiology, French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul, Afghanistan

    Hidayatullah Hamidi

Authors
  1. Haider Ali Malakzai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Abdul Latif Khairy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ahmed Maseh Haidary
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hidayatullah Hamidi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nasrin Hussaini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sayed Hakim Ahmady
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

HAM conceived the idea. HAM and AMH were major contributors to the writing of the manuscript. ALK, NH and SHA collected the laboratory data via integrated laboratory management system (ILMS). HAM, JAG, HIH and AMH contributed towards the final version of the manuscript. HAM, AMH and JAG were the major contributors for critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Maseh Haidary.

Ethics declarations

Conflcit of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was acquired from Ethical Review Committee (ERC)(109-FMIC-ER-21), of French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul Afghanistan.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects and/or their legal guardian(s) at the time of interview.

Human and animal rights

No experiment was performed on human tissue or human samples. The data for study was acquired from the hospital Integrated Laboratory Management System (ILMS). All the methods carried out were in accordance to Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Malakzai, H.A., Khairy, A.L., Haidary, A.M. et al. Relationship of age and gender with cytopathological findings of thyroid nodules diagnosed by FNAC: a retrospective study. Clin Exp Med 23, 2201–2207 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-022-00914-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-022-00914-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation