| Abstract | To determine whether some thyroid fine-needle aspirates classified as nondiagnostic correlate with benign thyroid nodules and can be distinguished from other nondiagnostic aspirates, I reviewed (from a total of 1,581) 80 nondiagnostic cases, all of which were hypocellular and lacked colloid, and correlated the cytologic findings with the results of pathologic follow-up. Of the 80, 16 had carcinoma at follow-up and 64 were benign. The cellularity of the carcinoma cases ranged from 0 to 100 cells (mean, 20 cells), but every case with epithelial cells had Hürthle cell change or atypia suggestive of papillary carcinoma. The cellularity of the 64 benign cases ranged from 0 to 120 cells (mean, 40 cells), 17 of which had Hürthle cell change. There were 25 cases with at least 10 benign-appearing follicular cells without atypia or Hürthle cell change; all 25 cases were associated with benign follow-up. While these results need to be confirmed by others, the evidence suggests that a proportion of thyroid aspirates that do not meet traditional criteria for adequacy still may be associated strongly with a benign thyroid nodule and can be distinguished from other nondiagnostic aspirates. |
| Authors | Andrew A Renshaw
(Affiliation: Department of Pathology, Baptist Hospital of Miami, FL 33176, USA.)
|
| Journal | American journal of clinical pathology
(Am J Clin Pathol)
Vol. 118
Issue 4
Pg. 518-21
(Oct 2002)
ISSN: 0002-9173 United States |
| PMID | 12375637
(Publication Type: Journal Article)
|
| Topics |
- Adenocarcinoma
(pathology)
- Adenoma, Oxyphilic
(pathology)
- Biopsy, Needle
- Diagnosis, Differential
- Evidence-Based Medicine
(methods)
- Humans
- Specimen Handling
(methods)
- Thyroid Neoplasms
(pathology)
- Thyroid Nodule
(pathology)
|
