Abstract

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The incidence of clinically apparent thyroid nodules in the general population is 4.5%.The overall incidence of malignancy in solitary thyroid nodule ranges between 10% to 15%. U/S and FNAC are used to differentiate benign and malignant nodules with high percentage of sensitivity and specifity. OBJECTIVES: 1. To evaluate the utility of FNAC in the preoperative diagnosis of solitary thyroid nodule. 2. To evaluate efficacy of FNAC and U/S in differentiation between benign and malignant nodule. METHODS: 130 euthyroid patients with solitary thyroid nodule attending the department of general surgery in the teaching hospital in Najaf province during the period from November 2001 to November 2003. After clinical assessment all our patient underwent FNAC for their thyroid nodule, and then subjected to the U/S examination. RESULTS: Out of these130 patients, the female to male ratio was 7:1, correlation of FNAC with HPE showed a sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 100%. CONCLUSION : Our study as compared to other studies else where showed that U/S and FNAC are very important diagnostic tools in investigation of clinically euthyroid solitary thyroid nodules. They will give optimal results and avoid unnecessary surgery in certain patients without missing any malignancy in others