Related Experiment Video For fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC)
Updated: Aug 16, 2026
Use of Electromagnetic Navigational Transthoracic Needle Aspiration (E-TTNA) for Sampling of Lung Nodules
Published on: May 23, 2015
Molecular Signature of Indeterminate Thyroid Lesions: Current Methods to Improve Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology
Silvia Cantara1, Carlotta Marzocchi2, Tania Pilli3
1Department of Medical, Surgical and Neurological Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy. cantara@unisi.it.
Abstract:
Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) represents the gold standard for determining the nature of thyroid nodules. It is a reliable method with good sensitivity and specificity. However, indeterminate lesions remain a diagnostic challenge and researchers have contributed molecular markers to search for in cytological material to refine FNAC diagnosis and avoid unnecessary surgeries. Nowadays, several "home-made" methods as well as commercial tests are available to investigate the molecular signature of an aspirate. Moreover, other markers (i.e., microRNA, and circulating tumor cells) have been proposed to discriminate benign from malignant thyroid lesions. Here, we review the literature and provide data from our laboratory on mutational analysis of FNAC material and circulating microRNA expression obtained in the last 6 years.
