• Ahmed S Bahaj, Haddad H Alkaff, Bashair N Melebari, Anwar N Melebari, Suhail I Sayed, Syeddah S Mujtaba, Sherif K Abdelmonim, Saeed A Alghamdi, Fares E Alghamdi, Omar A Abu Suliman, Mohammad A Alessa, Firas R Abi Sheffah, Anas H Al-Tammas, Rajab A Al-Zahrani, Osama A Marglani, John C Heaphy, Osama A Bawazir, and Ameen Z Alherabi.
• Head and Neck & Skull Base Surgery Center, King Abdullah Medical City, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Bahaj6666@yahoo.com.
• Saudi Med J. 2020 Oct 1; 41 (10): 1098-1103.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the accuracy and e cacy of ne-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in diagnosing thyroid nodules, correlating it with the histopathological findings.MethodsA retrospective evaluation of 314 patients was undertaken at a tertiary referral center of King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC), Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, between 2010-2019. Patients who presented with thyroid swellings underwent ultrasonography and FNAC. If indicated, surgery was performed. The FNAC findings were compared to the final histopathological reports.ResultsThe findings for FNAC from our data set of 314 patients showed a sensitivity value of 79.8%, specificity of 82.1%, accuracy of 74.8%, positive predictive value of 74.8%, and negative predictive value of 85.9%. Conclusion: Our study showed that FNAC has high sensitivity and speci city in the initial evaluation of patients with thyroid nodules. When guided by ultrasonography, the accuracy can be markedly improved. Molecular markers once widely available can improve the diagnostic power of FNAC to be no less than the histopathologic evaluation of thyroid tissue.

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