Fine-needle aspiration cytology and volue of frozen section in the diagnosis of the thyroid nodules

Abstract

Objectives:To evaluate the need for frozen section (FS) during surgery in patients with nodular-thyroid disease who have preoperative sufficient fine needle aspiration biopsy.Materials and Methods:Frozen section was performed in 51 patients who had been operated for the thyroid nodular disease. In 42 of these patients preoperative FNAC was available. FNAC and FS results were compared with the histopathological results.Results:The sensitivity, specificity, accurancy, positive - negative predictive ratio of the FNAC and FS are 100%, 26.6% - 87.5%, 45% - 90.1%, 31% - 68%, 100%.Conclusion:FNAC is a valuable diagnostic test in determining the surgery for thyroid nodules. We think that frozen section is the complementary technique for thyroid nodules which had preoperative diagnosis of "suspicious cytology".

Keywords

• fine-needle aspiration cytology
• frozen section
• thyroid nodules.