Fine needle aspiration of the hot thyroid nodule
Liel, Y.; Zirkin, H.J.; Sobel, R.J.
Acta Cytologica 32(6): 866-867
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5547 PMID: 3201877 Document Number: 316231
The use of fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology in the evaluation of solitary hot thyroid nodules was examined in 24 patients. Satisfactory FNA specimens were obtained from 22 patients. None of the cytologic samples was considered malignant or suspicious for malignancy. The cytologic findings were indeterminate in one instance.sbd.a smear with follicular features. The smears from the other 21 patients were judged to be benign. If FNA had been used as the initial diagnostic step, the need for a thyroid scan would thus perhaps have been avoided in 21 of the 24 patients. These results support the idea that FNA is the most effective procedure in the evaluation of the solitary thyroid nodule, whether functional or not.