Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Introduction: Thyroid nodular (TN) lesions are a common clinical problem in the world. These are more common in women and in areas of iodine deficiency. A solitary thyroid nodule is a palpable swelling in thyroid gland that has otherwise a normal appearance. A variety of tests have been employed to separate benign from malignant thyroid nodules. Thyroid fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is over 50 years old and is the principle method of preoperative diagnosis in both children and adults. Materials and Methods: Total of 100 cases was evaluated retrospectively. A cytological diagnosis was made as per Bethesda classification. According to the Bethesda 2007 classification results were categorized as benign, atypia of undetermined significance (AUS)/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (FLUS), follicular neoplasm (FN)/ suspicious for follicular neoplasm (SFN), suspicious for malignancy, and malignant ones. Benign lesions were further categorized in to colloid nodules, multinodular goitre, toxic goitre and lymphocytic thyroiditis. Results: Out of 100 patients, 75 were females (75%) and 25 were males (25%). The mean age was 44.3±15.9 with age range of 20-80 years. The mean age of male patients was greater than the mean age of female patients (52.1±16.2). Benign 70/51 (70%) cases were further categorized as per FNA findings and were correlated with clinical details, hormonal profile and imaging studies. Four cases (5.71%) out of 70 benign cases showed disturbed serum thyroid profile (raised serum T3, T4 levels and reduced TSH levels) along with consistent findings on FNA smears. FNAC in 18 (25.71%) cases with diffuse thyroid lesions revealed lymphocytic infiltrate destroying the follicular sheets, hence diagnosed as lymphocytic thyroiditis. 9 cases showed FNA findings consistent with clinical as well as radiological findings, and were diagnosed as multinodular goitre. Conclusion: The results of our study are comparable with the current published data and demonstrate that FNA cytology is a sensitive, specific, and accurate initial diagnostic test for the preoperative evaluation of patients with thyroid swellings in our setting as well. FNAC still plays an important role in the diagnosis of the thyroid lesions. If reported as Bethesda system, lesions can be further categorized and treatment plan can be done without any delay. Keywords: Thyroid nodular (TN) lesions, iodine deficiency, fine needle aspiration cytology