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Thyroglossal duct cysts: diagnostic criteria by fine-needle aspiration
M M Shaffer1, Y C Oertel, J E Oertel
1Pathology Department, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
Objective:
To document the cytologic diagnostic criteria of fine-needle aspirations of thyroglossal cysts.
Design:
Midline cervical masses were studied by fine-needle aspiration, and those 11 thyroglossal cysts that were resected served as a baseline for the evaluation of aspirates from 33 similar lesions that were not removed.
Setting:
Physicians' offices, hospital outpatient clinics, and the aspiration service of a university department of pathology.
Patients:
Forty-four patients noting a mass in the anterior neck or found by physicians to have such a mass.
Interventions:
Fifty-one aspirations (second aspirates in seven patients); surgical removal of the cysts in 11 patients.
Main Outcome Measures:
Aspirates were examined for cells, other particulate matter, and any extracellular material in the background.
Results:
Smears from thyroglossal cysts are low in cellularity, and inflammatory cells are more numerous than epithelial cells.
Conclusions:
Fine-needle aspiration contributes to an accurate preoperative diagnosis of thyroglossal cysts, allowing a Sistrunk procedure to be performed in these patients rather than an inappropriate local resection.