Table 2.
Characteristics of 136 Nodules Biopsied and Their Association With Cancer Risk
| Nodule Characteristics | Nodules, n (% of Total) | n (% of Category) |
Pa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benign | Cancer | |||
| All | 136 | 108 (79) | 28 (21) | |
| Size in mm, median (range)b | 23.0 (10–64) | 22.5 (10–61) | 29.5 (10–64) | .004 |
| Cystic content | <.0001 | |||
| 0% (solid) | 37 (27) | 16 (43) | 21 (57) | |
| <25% | 19 (14) | 15 (79) | 4 (21) | |
| 25–50% | 30 (22) | 28 (93) | 2 (7) | |
| 50–75% | 18 (13) | 18 (100) | 0 (0) | |
| >75% | 32 (24) | 31 (97) | 1 (3) | |
| Calcifications | <.0001 | |||
| Present | 9 (7) | 0 (0) | 9 (100) | |
| Absent | 127 (93) | 108 (85) | 19 (15) | |
| Nonspecific lymph node enlargement | .07 | |||
| Present | 29 (21) | 19 (66) | 10 (34) | |
| Absent | 107 (79) | 89 (83) | 18 (17) | |
| Abnormal lymph node appearance | .03 | |||
| Present | 4 (3) | 1 (25) | 3 (75) | |
| Absent | 132 (97) | 107 (81) | 25 (19) | |
| Final cytology | <.0001 | |||
| Benign | 86 (63) | 84 (98) | 2 (2)c | |
| Atypical | 10 (7) | 6 (60) | 4 (40) | |
| Suspicious for follicular neoplasm | 6 (4) | 0 (0) | 6 (100) | |
| Suspicious for PTC | 10 (7) | 6 (60) | 4 (40) | |
| Positive for PTC | 11 (8) | 0 (0) | 11 (100) | |
| Nondiagnostic | 13 (10) | 12 (92) | 1 (8) | |
Abbreviation: PTC, papillary thyroid cancer.
Comparing malignant to benign by Fisher exact test.
By continuous measure, malignant nodules were significantly larger than benign by Wilcoxon test. Mean ± SD values were 24.8 ± 12.2 mm for all nodules; 23.0 ± 10.9 mm for benign nodules; and 31.7 ± 14.7 mm for malignant nodules.
The 2 cytologically benign nodules diagnosed as cancers were encapsulated follicular variants of papillary carcinoma, one 5.4-cm nodule that was empirically resected for large size and one 2.3-cm nodule that was rebiopsied at a surveillance visit 2 years after initial presentation and then referred to surgery for new cytological abnormalities on the repeat biopsy. With the exception of 3 follicular carcinomas (2 with preoperative cytology that was “suspicious for follicular neoplasm” and one with cytology that was “suspicious for PTC”), all thyroid cancers were papillary carcinomas on operative pathology.