Thyroid fine needle aspiration reporting rates and outcomes before and after Bethesda implementation: A single-center experience over 8 years

Abstract

Aimː To evaluate data from our hospital system before and after the implementation of the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytology (TBSRTC) and comparison of our data with the previously published studies.

Methods: Seven hundred seventy-one patients with thyroid nodules who underwent fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and surgery at our institution were analyzed retrospectively. FNAB results were divided into two parts in terms of the period they related to: pre-TBSRTC (between 2005 and 2010) and TBSRTC (between 2011 and 2013).

Results: 341 FNAB were applied in the period of TBSRTC. Of the 341 FNAB, 53(16%) were non diagnostic, 82(24%) were benign, 62(18%) were atypia of undetermined significance or follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS), 28(8%) were follicular neoplasms and/or suspicion of follicular neoplasms (FN/SFN), 95(28%) were suspicion for malignancy (SuspM), and 21(6%) were malignant. Rates of malignancy reported on follow-up histopathological examination were non diagnostic in 11%, benign in 4.9%, AUS/FLUS in 23%, FN/SFN in 32%, SuspM in 44%, and malignant in 95.3%.

Conclusions: In this study, the distribution of cases in TBSRTC categories and malignancy rates, differed from, recommended by TBSRTC and some studies. Implementation of TBSRTC did significantly affect our institution’s reporting rates.