Drill biopsy of the thyroid gland

Needle drill biopsies were performed on 360 patients presenting with thyroid swellings. The indications and technique are discussed. Surgical treatment was carried out for 154 of the 225 solitary nodules and 82 of the 129 nodular goitres. The overall success rate in obtaining thyroid tissue was 74%. The accuracy rate was 100% in lymphocytic thyroiditis, anaplastic carcinoma and medullary carcinoma. With adenoma, 66% of those presenting as solitary nodules and 44-4% as nodular goitres were correctly diagnosed. Two-thirds of papillary carcinomas were correctly diagnosed by drill biopsy. Only 28-6% of follicular carcinomas were diagnosed before operation. The drill biopsy proved to be a simple procedure, with few complications, and served the purpose of selecting patients for operative treatment.