A prospective study on cytology of thyroid lesions, its correlation with histopathology and evaluate diagnostic accuracy of FNAC in thyroid pathologies

Introduction: Thyroid lesions are commonly seen in day to day clinical practice with an annual incidence rate of 4-7%. A preliminary and effective diagnostic tool is required to provide early diagnosis. FNAC is a handy technique and play an important role in early and differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions. Aims: The aim of this study was to find out the spectrum of thyroid lesions with respect to age and sex, evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC in thyroid lesions by correlating the cytological finding with histopathology. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was done during the period from 2012 to 2017. FNAC of all cases admitted to ENT and surgery ward with thyroid nodule was performed, irrespective of age and sex and all corresponding surgical specimens received in pathology department of thyroid lesions were collected. Thyroid lesions were classified according to Bethesda system of reporting. The statistical analysis was done. Results: A total of 291 patients were evaluated in this study, FNAC was done on all cases. The thyroid lesions are more common in females (245 cases) than males (46 cases). Benign (240 cases) lesions are common than malignant lesions (27 cases). Benign lesions are more commonly seen in age group of 21-30 years (33.68%) and malignant ones in age group of 41-50 years (28.87%). Diagnostic accuracy in our study was 96.4%. Conclusion: Thyroid lesions can be effectively categorized and reported by following the Bethesda system which minimizes the false positive cases. In this study FNAC of thyroid lesions has a high accuracy in differentiating between benign and malignant lesions.