Accuracy of Ultrasound Scans as Compared to Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in the Diagnosis of Thyroid Nodules.

introductionThyroid nodules (TNs) are among the more common findings on physical examinations. Due to the fear of the TN harboring malignancy and with the increasing incidence of thyroid cancer, ultrasound (US) scanning is used as an important diagnostic tool in the assessment of a TN. The American College of Radiology's Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) was established based on specific patterns composed of two or more features. According to the TI-RADS guidelines, a suspicious nodule by US findings should undergo fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), in which results would guide further management.

objectiveThis study was carried out to assess the accuracy of US as compared to FNAC in the diagnosis of a thyroid nodule. METHODOLOGY: This retrospective study involved 213 cases that were sent for FNAC after having done a US scan of the thyroid. Data was gathered from all patient files that were referred for FNAC thyroid between 01/02/2018 and 30/06/2021 in Al-Ahli Hospital in the state of Qatar. The US scans were interpreted and reported according to the TI-RADS criteria. The FNAC samples were interpreted and reported according to the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology. Data were tabulated and analyzed with Excel (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) and SPSS version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

resultsThe study showed that US had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of 73.9%, 72.6%, 24.6% and 95.8%, respectively, with a significant association between the results of US and the results of FNAC (X

conclusionWhile our results showed that US cannot be solely relied on in diagnosing TNs, they did show that US can reliably rule out a malignancy in TNs. Recent studies have been showing increasing accuracy of US in diagnosing TNs and more studies are needed to explore this topic.