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Incidence of neoplasia in Hashimoto's thyroiditis: A fine‐needle aspiration study
Author(s) -
Carson Henry J.,
Castelli Melanie J.,
Gattuso Paolo
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
diagnostic cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1097-0339
pISSN - 8755-1039
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0339(199602)14:1<38::aid-dc8>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - medicine , thyroid neoplasm , thyroiditis , pathology , thyroid , follicular phase , incidence (geometry) , neoplasm , fine needle aspiration , carcinoma , follicular carcinoma , thyroid carcinoma , hashimoto disease , adenoma , papillary carcinoma , gastroenterology , biopsy , physics , optics
There is a recognized association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and thyroid neoplasms. We reviewed fine‐needle aspirations (FNAs) from 90 patients with HT to assess the contribution of this procedure. For seven patients, FNA showed HT and follicular neoplasm (n = 6) or HT and papillary carcinoma (n = 1). Eighteen patients underwent thyroid resection. Three patients had follicular adenomas which were not detected by FNA, one patient had papillary carcinoma confirmed, and six patients with follicular neoplasm by FNA were negative for tumor. Thus, 4% of our patients had confirmed neoplasms, an incidence lower than usually reported. One reason for the lower rate of neoplasia in our series was misinterpretation of follicular neoplasia in the background of HT. The cytologic changes in the hyperplastic follicular and metaplastic oncocytic epithelium are similar to those seen in follicular neoplasm. Our study suggests that these processes may be indistinguishable, and thus, in the presence of HT, the diagnosis of follicular neoplasm probably should not be rendered. Diagn Cytopathol 1996;14:38–42. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.