The Role of Ultrasonography and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in Thyroid Swellings Volume 6 - Issue 1

Afshan Fathima¹*, Rehna Mohamed², Havva Hanana², Sandeep Jain A M² and B Viswanatha³

• ¹Senior Resident, Department of ENT, Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, India
• ²Junior Resident, Department of ENT, Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, India
• ³Professor & Head of Department of ENT, Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, India

Received: March 10, 2021;   Published: March 19, 2021

Corresponding author: Afshan Fathima, Senior Resident, Department of ENT, Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, Bengaluru, India

DOI: 10.32474/SJO.2021.06.000230

Fulltext PDF

To view the Full Article   Peer-reviewed Article PDF

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroid swellings are commonly encountered endocrine disorders. These disorders can be evaluated by thyroid function tests, ultrasonography (USG), fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), computed tomography (CT scan), histopathology etc. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of thyroid swellings. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of both ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration cytology were evaluated and correlated with the histopathology diagnosis.

Materials and Method: 70 consecutive patients presenting with thyroid swellings were thoroughly examined in the department of otorhinolaryngology and details were documented. The patients were subjected to an USG and FNAC of the thyroid swellings to study the lesions from sonological and cytological point of view respectively. Patients were posted for thyroidectomy surgery and the thyroid specimen was subjected to histopathological examination. Data were collected and tabulated.

Result: A total of 70 patients were enrolled in the present study. 9 (12.86%) patients were males and 61 (87.14%) were females. Male to female ratio was 1:6.78. The most common age group noted was 31-40 years with 34 patients (48.57%). Histopathology was considered as the gold standard for diagnosis. Correlation of USG and FNAC diagnosis of thyroid swellings was made with histopathology by evaluating the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy. USG showed a sensitivity of 84.61%, specificity of 91.22%, positive predictive value of 68.75%, negative predictive value of 96.29% and accuracy 90% of in thyroid swellings. On the contrary, FNAC showed a sensitivity of 92.85%, specificity of 94.64%, positive predictive value of 81.25%, negative predictive value of 98.14% and accuracy of 94.29%.

Conclusion: USG and FNAC of thyroid swellings are simple, cost effective and yield quick results. Although histopathology is confirmatory and the gold standard for diagnosis, USG and FNAC in conjunction have reasonably good sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy for preoperative diagnosis of thyroid swellings.

Keywords: Ultrasonography; fine needle aspiration cytology; histopathology; thyroid swellings

Abstract| Introduction| Materials and Method| Results| Discussion| Conclusion| References|