Muhammad Alam, Hikmatullah Qureshi, Qutbe Alam Jan.
Accuracy of FNAC as a diagnostic modality in the management of solitary thyroid nodule.
J Med Sci Jan ;18(3):94-6.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to exclude or demonstrate malignancy using the Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) in a patient with solitary thyroid nodule. Material and Methods: It was a cross sectional study conducted in Surgical C unit of Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawaw from May 2001 to May 2003. All patients with solitary thyroid nodules presenting to our out patient department were recruited in this study. Fine needle aspiration was performed on all these patients and the aspirates were sent to cytopathologist. After getting the reports surgery was planned for the indicated cases and then the final histopathology was compared with pre operative cytological reports. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were calculated. Results: FNAC was performed in all 100 patients. The cytology reported 9 Neoplastic aspirates, 78 Non neoplastic, 6 Suspicious and 7 Unsatisfactory reports. Histology reported 11 Neoplastic cases and 89 Non neoplastic. The sensitivity of the FNAC in this series of cases was 100%, specificity was 95.12% and accuracy was 95.69%. Conclusion: The results are comparable to the current published data and demonstrate that FNAC in expert hands is accurate investigation for preoperative diagnosis of thyroid malignancy.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com