Relationship of Cytological with Histopathological Examination of Palpable Thyroid Nodule

Abstract

Aims: To observe the relationship between cytopathological diagnosis (using Bethesda reporting system) and Histopathological examination and to find out the diagnostic accuracy of thyroid fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) as compared to gold standard i.e., histological examination. Method: A retrospective data of 77 cases was collected having record of both FNAC and histopathological diagnosis (gold standard). The study recruited patients who were referred from outpatient department to Pathology department, Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences, Lahore, for FNAC of palpable thyroid nodule. The study included patients who underwent FNAC between Jan 2012-Dec 2016. The smears were evaluated and reported according to the standard Bethesda system. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS Vr 22. Results: Total of 77 cases with both FNAC and histopathological examination of postsurgical specimen were included for statistical analysis. The correlation of FNAC with histological examination reveals sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of 85.7 %, 96.4%, 90%, 94.7% and 93.5% respectively. False positive rate was 2.6% and false negative rate was 3.9%. Conclusion: It is concluded that FNAC is simple, rapid, reliable and very sensitive screening test. Cyto-histological diagnosis correlation is a quality assurance method as it allows to review and evaluate the false positive as well as false negative cases.