Assessment of diagnostic accuracy of Bethesda reporting system with fine needle aspiration cytology of thyroid lesions and its histological correlation

Abstract

Background: Thyroid FNAC is widely recognized as the top diagnostic tool for evaluating thyroid nodules prior to surgery. Objectives: Assessing the diagnostic precision of Bethesda system classifications and analysing the correlation between cyto-histopathological findings and FNAC results. Material and Methods: In this study, a total of 88 thyroid FNA smears were reviewed, and histopathological correlations were made for 45 surgically excised cases. Results: When considering follicular neoplasm/suspicious for follicular neoplasm as malignant, FNAC showed sensitivity of 88%, specificity of 82%, positive predictive value of 75%, negative predictive value of 92%, and accuracy of 84%. Conclusion: FNAC stands out as an extremely sensitive and accurate tool for diagnosing diverse thyroid nodules.