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Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England logoLink to Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England
letter
. 2007 Jul;89(5):555. doi: 10.1308/003588407X205378

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology

C Gadepalli 1, G Back 1
PMCID: PMC2048639  PMID: 17688739

We would like to comment on this article. First the study fails to state if the fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was ultrasound-guided, as ultrasound-guided FNAC has a significantly lower yield of inadequate aspirates than palpable FNAC.1 Second, the more experienced the pathologist, the higher the sensitivity rate for recognising the pathology, especially in thyroid cancer.2 Third, the adequacy of a sample is dependent on the clinician performing the procedure.3 Thus, the results of each study are variable, making meta-analysis biased.

Footnotes

Reference

  • 1.Cai XJ, Valiyaparambath N, Nixon P, Waghorn A, Giles T, Helliwell T. Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules. Cytopathology. 2006;17:251–6. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2303.2006.00397.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Serna de la Saravia C, Cuellar F, Saravio Day E, Harach HR. Accuracy of aspiration cytology in thyroid cancer: a study in 1 institution. Acta Cytol. 2006;50:384–7. doi: 10.1159/000325977. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Sangalli G, Serio G, Zampatti C, Bellotti M, Lomuscio G. Fine needle aspiration cytology of the thyroid: a comparison of 5469 cytological and final histological diagnoses. Cytopathology. 2006;17:245–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2303.2006.00335.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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