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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
Substernal Thyroid Biopsy Using Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration
Published on: November 10, 2014
Value of fine-needle aspiration in evaluating large thyroid nodules
Thibaut Raguin1, Olivier Schneegans2, Jean-François Rodier3
1Service ORL et Chirurgie Cervico-faciale, CHU de Strasbourg, Strasbourg Cedex, France.
Background:
The American Thyroid Association (ATA) recommends using ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in order to evaluate supracentimetric and suspect thyroid nodules. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effective use of FNA before surgery for nodules over 3 cm in diameter.
Methods:
In this retrospective study, we analyzed the results of ultrasound-guided FNA and postoperative histological analysis in 843 nodules >3 cm.
Results:
The FNA was informative in 42.6%. The correlation with the final histological analysis was 94.8% for benign nodules and 71.0% for malignant nodules. The FNA had a positive predictive value of 71%, a specificity of 97%, a sensitivity of 56%, and a 4.7% rate of false-negative results.
Conclusion:
Because there is a nonnegligible FNA risk of error, notably allowing the evolution of a cancer in 1 of 20 cases, the FNA data should not delay surgical intervention for potentially suspect nodules >3 cm in diameter. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 32-36, 2017.
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