Comparison of cytological adequacy in ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of thyroid nodules with different numbers of needle passes

- OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the cytological adequa-cy rates of different needle passes in ultra-sound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid nodules and, thus, to help establish the criterion for selecting the number of needle passes according to the characteristics of thy-roid nodules.PATIENTS AND METHODS: This single -cen-ter and randomized prospective study involved 207 consecutive patients with 240 solid or pre-dominantly solid thyroid nodules. These nod-ules were randomly divided into a 1-pass group, a 2-pass group, and a 3-pass group. Then the nodules were sent for cytopathological diagno-sis, and cytological results were classified ac-cording to the Bethesda classification. Bethes-da I was defined as inadequate, and Bethesda II-VI were defined as adequate. Then the cyto-logical adequacy rates of different groups were compared.RESULTS: In total, 221 nodule specimens were considered as adequate and 19 nodule spec-imens inadequate. The overall adequacy rate was 92.1%. However, there were no significant differences among the 1, 2, and 3-pass groups in terms of adequacy rates (91.3%, 92.5%, and 92.5%, respectively).CONCLUSIONS: The number of needle pass-es does not significantly affect the cytologi-cal adequacy in ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of solid or predominantly solid thy-roid nodules. The cytological adequacy of one -needle pass is comparable to those of two and three-needle passes.

Automated summary

This study aimed to compare the cytological adequacy rates of different needle passes in ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid nodules, in order to establish criteria for selecting the number of needle passes based on nodule characteristics. The study involved 207 consecutive patients with 240 solid or predominantly solid thyroid nodules, randomly divided into 1-pass, 2-pass, and 3-pass groups. Cytological results were classified according to the Bethesda classification. The results showed that the number of needle passes did not significantly affect cytological adequacy, with comparable results for one, two, and three passes.