The yield of thyroid fine-needle aspiration in a primary care setting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Thyroid cancer is the second most common cancer among women. This study was conducted to assess the yield of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology of thyroid nodules in a primary care setting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In this retrospective cohort study, primary care patients of both genders with thyroid nodules who underwent FNA above the age of 18 years were enrolled. Patients with a prior history of cancer were excluded. The data was collected from the histopathology reports of FNAs done for thyroid nodules from January 01, 2002 to July 31, 2018.

We enrolled 263 patients in this study. The mean age of the study population was 41.3 years old (Standard deviation (SD) ± 10.1), 81.7% were females and 18.3% were males. The rate of abnormal ultrasound (US) was 16%. The mean thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level was 2.3 mU/L (SD ± 5.9). Post-thyroidectomy, 17.5% had carcinoma on pathology reports. Among those who were diagnosed with thyroid cancer, 76.2% had papillary thyroid cancer, 21.4% had follicular thyroid cancer, and 2.4% had medullary thyroid cancer. The mean age for cancer diagnosis was 40 years old (SD ± 8). There was no significant association between FNA findings (benign/malignant) and age, gender, history of smoking, size of the nodule, or TSH level.

Thorough investigations including FNA should be considered for patients presenting with suspicious thyroid nodules, regardless of their size or the patients' gender. Access to such investigations and referrals to specialists should be available for primary care physicians.