Fine-needle biopsy cytology in autoimmune thyroiditis

Fine-needle biopsy is used in the thyroid pathology especially for the differential diagnosis concerning malignant lesions. From a total of 59 cases of thyroiditis, in 12 was possible to proceed to fine-needle biopsy, in large goiters and nodules larger than 1 cm in diameter; in these cases were obtained smears, stained in May-Grünwald-Giemsa technique. In 9 cases of the 12 investigated, in the smears appeared lymphocytes and macrophages, cells commonly found in the infiltrates of the thyroid gland, in autoimmune thyroiditis, and sometimes also few normal thyrocytes. Fine-needle biopsy is important in the diagnosis algorithm of the thyroid nodules, involving 4, up to 7% of the general population. It has also the advantage of reducing the number of cases solved by surgical therapy, as it is the case with the diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.