Comparison of the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography with fine-needle aspiration cytology in thyroid nodules

Objective: The aim of the study was to correlate the sonographic (ultrasound [US]) and color flow Doppler findings with the results of US-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in the ultrasound suite of our hospital, South Western, Nigeria. It is a cross-sectional study on 110 adult patients with clinically palpable thyroid nodule(s) in our hospital. Sonographic scans of 110 thyroid nodules in 110 patients were performed, and characteristics of thyroid nodules that were studied included microcalcifications, an irregular or microlobulated margins, marked hypoechogenicity/hypoechogenicity, a shape that was taller than it was wide, and color flow pattern in Color Doppler ultrasound. The presence and absence of characteristics of nodules were classified as having positive or negative findings, respectively. Results: Among 110 solid thyroid nodules, 23 lesions were classified as positive considering the sonographic characteristics and 9 of them were proved to be malignant on histopathology. Of 87 lesions which were classified as negative, none was proved to be malignant. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value based on our sonographic classification method were 100%, 86%, 36%, and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that ultrasound can be sensitive and specific for thyroid nodules but the PPV is low.