The role of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy in the previously treated patient with thyroid cancer.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration in detecting locoregional recurrence in previously treated patients with thyroid cancer. A retrospective analysis of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy was carried out for suspected recurrence of thyroid cancer over a 5-year period at a single institution. There were 37 biopsies in 37 patients. Each patient's ultrasound report, cytology report and medical notes were examined to determine the result of the biopsy and the patient's outcome. There were 29 true-positives, 6 true-negatives, 1 false-negative and 1 inadequate biopsy. Ultrasound-guided FNA, therefore, had a sensitivity of 96.7%, specificity of 100% and overall accuracy of 97.2% in detecting recurrence. Ultrasound-guided FNA is an accurate method of identifying suspected recurrence.