Fine needle aspiration and frozen section diagnosis in the management of thyroid nodules

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a valuable technique in the evaluation of thyroid nodules. A total of 182 FNAs of the thyroid performed at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital were reevaluated and 153 were found to be adequate (84%). The cytological results of FNA were divided into neoplastic and non-neoplastic groups. Subsequent histology was obtained in 53 patients with an intraoperative frozen actions (FS) in 27 patients. Papillary carcinoma was found to be the most common, accounting for 70% of these cases with histological follow-up in the neoplastic group. The utility of performing FNA in all thyroid nodules and an intraoperative frozen section only in selected cases is discussed.