Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of sonographic-cytological correlation in determining which nodules should be reaspirated to reduce the false-negative rate of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). A retrospective cohort study was performed on a database of 568 patients with 672 focal thyroid nodules. An independent two-sample t-test was used to compare the risk of malignancy according to clinical factors. We evaluated the risk stratification of malignancy according to US groupings and cytological results. Additionally, we calculated the false-negative rate of FNAB and investigated the cytological results of repeat aspiration. The malignancy rate (92.2–98.5%) was high in thyroid nodules designated “malignant” or “suspicious for papillary carcinoma” on FNAB, regardless of US features. In contrast, when focal thyroid nodules had “benign” readings on FNAB, the malignancy rate was lower for the “probably benign” US features (2.9%) than for the suspicious nodules (56.6%). The false-negative rate of FNAB was 5.8%. Repeat aspiration revealed “suspicious for malignancy” or “malignancy” results in 15 (93.8%) of 16 thyroid cancers with “benign” results on initial aspirate. This study demonstrated repeat FNAB should be performed on focal thyroid nodules with suspicious US features even when initial FNAB results are benign.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cooper DS, Doherty GM, Haugen BR et al (2006) Management guidelines for patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. Thyroid 16:109–142
Gharib H, Papini E, Valcavi R et al (2006) American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and Associazione Medici Endocrinologi medical guidelines for clinical practice for the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules. Endocr Pract 12:63–102
Frates MC, Benson CB, Charboneau JW et al (2005) Management of thyroid nodules detected at US: Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound consensus conference statement. Radiology 237:794–800
Grant CS, Hay ID, Gough IR, McCarthy PM, Goellner JR (1989) Long-term follow-up of patients with benign thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytologic diagnoses. Surgery 106:980–985, discussion 985–986
Ylagan LR, Farkas T, Dehner LP (2004) Fine needle aspiration of the thyroid: a cytohistologic correlation and study of discrepant cases. Thyroid 14:35–41
Sangalli G, Serio G, Zampatti C, Bellotti M, Lomuscio G (2006) Fine needle aspiration cytology of the thyroid: a comparison of 5469 cytological and final histological diagnoses. Cytopathology 17:245–250
Lee YH, Lee NJ, Kim JH, Suh SI, Kim TK, Song JJ (2008) Sonographically guided fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodule: discrepancies between cytologic and histopathologic findings. J Clin Ultrasound 36:6–11
Ogawa Y, Kato Y, Ikeda K et al (2001) The value of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology for thyroid nodules: an assessment of its diagnostic potential and pitfalls. Surg Today 31:97–101
Menendez Torre E, Pineda Arribas J, Martinez de Esteban JP, Lopez Carballo MT, de Miguel C, Salvador P (2007) Value of repeated fine needle aspiration cytology in patients with nodular goiter. Acta Cytol 51:850–852
Orlandi A, Puscar A, Capriata E, Fideleff H (2005) Repeated fine-needle aspiration of the thyroid in benign nodular thyroid disease: critical evaluation of long-term follow-up. Thyroid 15:274–278
Merchant SH, Izquierdo R, Khurana KK (2000) Is repeated fine-needle aspiration cytology useful in the management of patients with benign nodular thyroid disease? Thyroid 10:489–492
Shin JH, Han BK, Ko K, Choe YH, Oh YL (2006) Value of repeat ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration in nodules with benign cytological diagnosis. Acta Radiol 47:469–473
Kim EK, Park CS, Chung WY et al (2002) New sonographic criteria for recommending fine-needle aspiration biopsy of nonpalpable solid nodules of the thyroid. AJR Am J Roentgenol 178:687–691
Titton RL, Gryzenia PC, Gervais DA, Arellano RS, Boland GW, Mueller PR (2003) Interventional radiology case conferences Massachusetts General Hospital. Continuous high-output drainage of hepatic abscess 3 months after radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma. AJR Am J Roentgenol 180:1079–1084
Degirmenci B, Haktanir A, Albayrak R et al (2007) Sonographically guided fine-needle biopsy of thyroid nodules: the effects of nodule characteristics, sampling technique, and needle size on the adequacy of cytological material. Clin Radiol 62:798–803
Baloch Z, LiVolsi VA, Jain P et al (2003) Role of repeat fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in the management of thyroid nodules. Diagn Cytopathol 29:203–206
Iannuccilli JD, Cronan JJ, Monchik JM (2004) Risk for malignancy of thyroid nodules as assessed by sonographic criteria: the need for biopsy. J Ultrasound Med 23:1455–1464
Wienke JR, Chong WK, Fielding JR, Zou KH, Mittelstaedt CA (2003) Sonographic features of benign thyroid nodules: interobserver reliability and overlap with malignancy. J Ultrasound Med 22:1027–1031
Papini E, Guglielmi R, Bianchini A et al (2002) Risk of malignancy in nonpalpable thyroid nodules: predictive value of ultrasound and color-Doppler features. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 87:1941–1946
Peccin S, de Castsro JA, Furlanetto TW, Furtado AP, Brasil BA, Czepielewski MA (2002) Ultrasonography: is it useful in the diagnosis of cancer in thyroid nodules? J Endocrinol Invest 25:39–43
Cappelli C, Castellano M, Pirola I et al (2007) The predictive value of ultrasound findings in the management of thyroid nodules. Qjm 100:29–35
Kang HW, No JH, Chung JH et al (2004) Prevalence, clinical and ultrasonographic characteristics of thyroid incidentalomas. Thyroid 14:29–33
Ito Y, Kobayashi K, Tomoda C et al (2005) Ill-defined edge on ultrasonographic examination can be a marker of aggressive characteristic of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma. World J Surg 29:1007–1011, discussion 1011–1002
Cappelli C, Pirola I, Cumetti D et al (2005) Is the anteroposterior and transverse diameter ratio of nonpalpable thyroid nodules a sonographic criteria for recommending fine-needle aspiration cytology? Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 63:689–693
Khoo ML, Asa SL, Witterick IJ, Freeman JL (2002) Thyroid calcification and its association with thyroid carcinoma. Head Neck 24:651–655
Chan BK, Desser TS, McDougall IR, Weigel RJ, Jeffrey RB Jr (2003) Common and uncommon sonographic features of papillary thyroid carcinoma. J Ultrasound Med 22:1083–1090
Frates MC, Benson CB, Doubilet PM, Cibas ES, Marqusee E (2003) Can color Doppler sonography aid in the prediction of malignancy of thyroid nodules? J Ultrasound Med 22:127–131, quiz 132–134
Tae HJ, Lim DJ, Baek KH et al (2007) Diagnostic value of ultrasonography to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions in the management of thyroid nodules. Thyroid 17:461–466
Gharib H, Goellner JR (1993) Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the thyroid: an appraisal. Ann Intern Med 118:282–289
Hamberger B, Gharib H, Melton LJ 3rd, Goellner JR, Zinsmeister AR (1982) Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid nodules. Impact on thyroid practice and cost of care. Am J Med 73:381–384
Mittendorf EA, Tamarkin SW, McHenry CR (2002) The results of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy for evaluation of nodular thyroid disease. Surgery 132:648–653, discussion 653–644
Danese D, Sciacchitano S, Farsetti A, Andreoli M, Pontecorvi A (1998) Diagnostic accuracy of conventional versus sonography-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid nodules. Thyroid 8:15–21
Mazzaferri EL, de los Santos ET, Rofagha-Keyhani S (1988) Solitary thyroid nodule: diagnosis and management. Med Clin North Am 72:1177–1211
Guidelines of the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology for the Examination of Fine-Needle Aspiration Specimens from Thyroid Nodules. The Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology Task Force on Standards of Practice. Mod Pathol 9:710–715
Screaton NJ, Berman LH, Grant JW (2003) US-guided core-needle biopsy of the thyroid gland. Radiology 226:827–832
Zhang S, Ivanovic M, Nemcek AA Jr, Defrias DV, Lucas E, Nayar R (2008) Thin core needle biopsy crush preparations in conjunction with fine-needle aspiration for the evaluation of thyroid nodules: a complementary approach. Cancer
Pitman MB, Abele J, Ali SZ et al (2008) Techniques for thyroid FNA: a synopsis of the National Cancer Institute Thyroid Fine-Needle Aspiration State of the Science Conference. Diagn Cytopathol 36:407–424
Harvey JN, Parker D, De P, Shrimali RK, Otter M (2005) Sonographically guided core biopsy in the assessment of thyroid nodules. J Clin Ultrasound 33:57–62
Liu Q, Castelli M, Gattuso P, Prinz RA (1995) Simultaneous fine-needle aspiration and core-needle biopsy of thyroid nodules. Am Surg 61:628–632, discussion 632–623
Taki S, Kakuda K, Kakuma K et al (1997) Thyroid nodules: evaluation with US-guided core biopsy with an automated biopsy gun. Radiology 202:874–877
Silverman JF, West RL, Finley JL et al (1986) Fine-needle aspiration versus large-needle biopsy or cutting biopsy in evaluation of thyroid nodules. Diagn Cytopathol 2:25–30
Quinn SF, Nelson HA, Demlow TA (1994) Thyroid biopsies: fine-needle aspiration biopsy versus spring-activated core biopsy needle in 102 patients. J Vasc Interv Radiol 5:619–623
Mehrotra P, Hubbard JG, Johnson SJ, Richardson DL, Bliss R, Lennard TW (2005) Ultrasound scan-guided core sampling for diagnosis versus freehand FNAC of the thyroid gland. Surgeon 3:1–5
Renshaw AA, Pinnar N (2007) Comparison of thyroid fine-needle aspiration and core needle biopsy. Am J Clin Pathol 128:370–374
Bandyopadhyay S, Pansare V, Feng J et al (2007) Frequency and rationale of fine needle aspiration biopsy conversion to core biopsy as a result of onsite evaluation. Acta Cytol 51:161–167
Karstrup S, Balslev E, Juul N, Eskildsen PC, Baumbach L (2001) US-guided fine needle aspiration versus coarse needle biopsy of thyroid nodules. Eur J Ultrasound 13:1–5
Bukhari MH, Niazi S, Hanif G et al (2008) An updated audit of fine needle aspiration cytology procedure of solitary thyroid nodule. Diagn Cytopathol 36:104–112
Cai XJ, Valiyaparambath N, Nixon P, Waghorn A, Giles T, Helliwell T (2006) Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules. Cytopathology 17:251–256
Moon HG, Jung EJ, Park ST et al (2007) Role of ultrasonography in predicting malignancy in patients with thyroid nodules. World J Surg 31:1410–1416
Tamsel S, Demirpolat G, Erdogan M et al (2007) Power Doppler US patterns of vascularity and spectral Doppler US parameters in predicting malignancy in thyroid nodules. Clin Radiol 62:245–251
De Nicola H, Szejnfeld J, Logullo AF, Wolosker AM, Souza LR, Chiferi V Jr (2005) Flow pattern and vascular resistive index as predictors of malignancy risk in thyroid follicular neoplasms. J Ultrasound Med 24:897–904
Lloyd RV, Erickson LA, Casey MB et al (2004) Observer variation in the diagnosis of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Am J Surg Pathol 28:1336–1340
Clary KM, Condel JL, Liu Y, Johnson DR, Grzybicki DM, Raab SS (2005) Interobserver variability in the fine needle aspiration biopsy diagnosis of follicular lesions of the thyroid gland. Acta Cytol 49:378–382
Hirokawa M, Carney JA, Goellner JR et al (2002) Observer variation of encapsulated follicular lesions of the thyroid gland. Am J Surg Pathol 26:1508–1514
Franc B, de la Salmoniere P, Lange F et al (2003) Interobserver and intraobserver reproducibility in the histopathology of follicular thyroid carcinoma. Hum Pathol 34:1092–1100
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dong-Su Jang, B,A.(Medical Illustrator, Medical Research Support Section, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea) for his help with the illustrations.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kwak, J.Y., Kim, EK., Kim, H.J. et al. How to combine ultrasound and cytological information in decision making about thyroid nodules. Eur Radiol 19, 1923–1931 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-009-1369-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-009-1369-7