Fine-needle aspiration biospy of the thyroid

Fine-needle thyroid aspiration biopsy has a 20-year history in Scandinavia but has seen little use in North America owing to concern about the dissemination of malignant disease and the more limited use of aspiration cytology in general. We have reviewed our experience with this method in 103 cases, and on the basis of our work and the accumulated evidence of others, believe that the procedure is of considerable practical value with little or no risk to the patients under study.