Correlation of the Results of FNAC and Histopathological Examinations in Thyroid Nodules

Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology(FNAC) in thyroid nodules by comparing the thyroid FNAC results and histopathological results of patients who underwent thyroidectomy surgery in our clinic. FNAC results of 1229 patients who underwent thyroidectomy for various indications in the General Surgery Clinic at Van Yuzuncu Yil University, Faculty of Medicine Hospital between January 2014 and December 2020 were categorized according to the Bethesda reporting system and compared with histopathological results. The cases were between ages of 18-78 with the mean age of 45.22 years and the female/male ratio was 1032(%84) /197(%16). According to the FNAC results, 8% of the patients were Bethesda-3, 12% were Bethesda-4, 33% were Bethesda-5, and 47% were Bethesda-6. According to histopathological results, malignancy was detected in 9.2% of patients in Bethesda-3, 22.8% of patients in Bethesda-4, 78.8% of patients in Bethesda-5, and 97.9% of patients in Bethesda-6. Malignancy detection rates were compatible with Bethesda 4, 5 and 6, but were incompatible with the Bathesda 3 category. We found a sensitivity of 95.4%, a specificity rate of 67%, a positive predictive value of 90% and a negative predictive value of 82%, and an accuracy rate of 89%. FNAC is an effective and reliable method in the evaluation of thyroid nodule.