Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the management of thyroid pathology--the Aga Khan University Hospital experience.

OBJECTIVE To report the efficacy of FNAC in patients with thyroid disease. METHODS Between January 1990 and December 1994 the records of all patients treated surgically for thyroid disease at ENT Head and Neck Surgery of Aga Khan University were reviewed. All the patients had pre-operative FNAC as the first line of evaluation and the histopathologist examined post-operative thyroid specimen. RESULTS Forty-five patients (36 female and 9 male) had thyroid surgery. In 26 patients out of 45, FNAC was conclusive in diagnosing the nature of disease, while in 19 patients the FNAC was inconclusive because of the presence of follicular cell neoplasia. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that the FNAC is very accurate and a reliable test in the diagnosis of thyroid pathology, however, to distinguish follicular adenoma from follicular carcinoma final histology is required. FNAC is cost effective method of evaluating thyroid pathology pre-operatively and plays a vital role in planning the surgical management of thyroid nodule.