Analysis of characteristics of ultrasound and fine needle aspiration cytology in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma

ZHU Xiao-jing; SHI Zhong-yuan; WEI Yan-hua; ZHAO Min; LI Jie

doi:10.11958/20170144

Abstract：Objective To analysis the diagnostic values and characteristics of ultrasound and ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) before operation. Methods The data of ultrasound and ultrasound guided FNAC in 129 patients (including 148 PTC nodules) with PTC were collected from January 2014 to February 2017, and the diagnostic reports and feature descriptions of ultrasound and ultrasound guided FNAC were analyzed retrospectively. Results Among the 148 PTC nodules, the ultrasonographic imaging showed that 84.5% (125/148) with low echo-level solid nodules, 61.5% (91/148) with echo heterogenicity, 77.7% (115/148) with a ratio ≥ 1 in longitudinal/breadth, 69.6 % (103/148) with fuzzy boundary, 75.0% (111/148) with microcalcification in nodules, 97.3% (144/148) without or with incomplete aureole, 64.9% (96/148) with rich blood flow and 7.0% (9/129) with enlargement of cervical lymph nodes. The FNAC diagnosis showed that 78.4% (116/148) was diagnosed with suspected papillary carcinoma, 1.4% (2/148) was diagnosed with malignent tumor, 11.5% (17/148) was diagnosed with atypia of undetermined significance (AUS), 1.4% (2/148) was diagnosed with benign lesion, 0.7% (1/148) was diagnosed with follicular neoplasm and 6.7% (10/148) could not be diagnosed. If the suspected papillary carcinoma and malignent tumor were defined as cytodiagnosis, the diagnostic accordance rate with intraoperative pathology was 79.7%. Conclusion The preoperative accuracy rates of ultrasound diagnosis and ultrasound guided FNAC diagnosis for patients with PTC are high, and the characteristics of the both are also typical. The two examinations before operation are helpful for early diagnosis and treatment formulation for patients with PTC.