Acta Biomedica Scientia

STUDY OF CLINICAL PROFILE AND MANAGEMENT OF SOLITARY THYROID NODULES

T. Vasudeva Rao*

mamatakhmm@gmail.com

Solitary thyroid nodules, Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology, Histopathology.

Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is considered as the gold standard diagnostic test for the diagnosis of solitary thyroidnodules (STN). The present study was aimed to compare the accuracy of FNAC and to study the pathological conditions of the nodule and to assess the outcome of the management of solitary thyroid nodule. Retrospective, descriptive and comparative study of 63 patients of any age group and both sexes who have thyroid nodules and are subjected to surgical treatment at from Mamata Medical College. The smears were classified into categories like benign, suspicious/indeterminate, malignant and unsatisfactory. Cytological diagnosis was correlated with the histopathology report wherever possible. The present study findings suggest that the youngest patient was in the age group between 10-20 years whereas, oldest being above 60 years. The findings out of 63 swellings observed, 9 were malignant and the remaining were benign lesions. Further clinical specimens have been evaluated by histopathological examination (HPE). The results displayed that among all the 63 solitary nodule of thyroid cases studied 5 cases (7.9%) were malignant lesions while the rest of 58 (92%) cases were benign lesions. The clinical examination of STN subjects showed that the swelling in front of the neck is the most common symptom which has been observed in all the subjects. In present study commonest surgery performed was Hemithyroidectomy in 56 cases. To conclude, although a thorough history and clinical examination are indispensable, FNAC is essential to decision making and is able to provide highly accurate information that will ultimately determine the management of a nodule.