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Updated: Nov 4, 2025
Substernal Thyroid Biopsy Using Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration
Published on: November 10, 2014
Needle tract seeding of papillary thyroid carcinoma after fine-needle capillary biopsy: A case report
Liu-Hong Shi1, Liang Zhou1, Yin-Jiao Lei2
1Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China.
Background:
Fine-needle biopsy is an accurate and cost-efficient tool for the assessment of thyroid nodules. It includes two primary methods: Fine-needle capillary biopsy (FNCB) and fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Needle tract seeding (NTS) is a rare complication of thyroid fine-needle biopsy mainly caused by fine-needle aspiration biopsy rather than FNCB. Here, we present an extremely rare case of a papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patient with FNCB-derived NTS.
Case Summary:
We report a 32-year-old woman with PTC who showed subcutaneous NTS 1 year after FNCB and thyroidectomy. NTS was diagnosed based on clinical manifestations, biochemistry indices, and imaging (computed tomography and ultrasound). Pathological identification of PTC metastases consistent with the puncture path is the gold standard for diagnosis. Surgical resection was the main method used to treat the disease. After surgery, thyroid function tests and ultrasound scans were performed every 3-6 mo. To date, no evidence of tumor recurrence has been observed.
Conclusion:
FNCB is a safe procedure as NTS is rare, and can be easily removed surgically with no recurrence. Accordingly, NTS should not limit the usefulness of FNCB.
