Naseem Baloch, Shazia Ali, Ali Ansari, Mumtaz Maher.
Contribution of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules.
Pak J Surg Jan ;24(1):19-21.

Objective: To analyze the efficacy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the initial evaluation of malignant solitary thyroid nodules. Design & Duration: Retrospective descriptive study from March 2001 to November 2007. Setting: Dept. of General Surgery (Ward-2), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi. Patients: A total of 381 patients with solitary thyroid nodule, who were operated after FNAC. Methodology: The data of all the patients was collected, and their preoperative FNAC reports were compared with the histopathological reports of their resected specimen. Results: Thyroid cancer was confirmed postoperatively among 110(29%) patients of the study population. Out of the 255 patients who had benign FNAC findings, 10 were found to be malignant on histopathology reports. There were 5% false +ve and 7% false -ve results. Conclusion: FNAC of the thyroid gland is sensitive, specific, accurate, rapid, minimally invasive and cost effective. It is the first line procedure in the evaluation of thyroid nodules.

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