Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of thyroid nodules: assessment of the ideal number of punctures

OBJECTIVE: To determine the number of punctures in fine-needle aspiration biopsies required for a safe cytological analysis of thyroid nodules. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study with focus on diagnosis. The study population included 94 patients. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients participating in the study was 52 years (standard-deviation = 13.7) and 90.4% of them were women. Considering each puncture as an independent event, the first puncture has showed conclusive results in 78.7% of cases, the second, in 81.6%, and the third, in 71.8% of cases. With a view to the increasing chance of a conclusive diagnosis at each new puncture, two punctures have showed conclusive results in 89.5% of cases, and three punctures, in 90.6% of cases with at least one conclusive result. CONCLUSION: Two punctures in fine-needle aspiration biopsies of thyroid nodules have lead to diagnosis in 89.5% of cases in the study sample, suggesting that there is no need for multiple punctures to safely obtain the diagnosis of thyroid nodules.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Ceratti,Sandro, Giannini,Paula, Souza,Ricardo Antenor de Souza e, Rodrigues Junior,Orlando Fermozelli
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Publicação do Colégio Brasileiro de Radiologia e Diagnóstico por Imagem 2012
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-39842012000300005
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