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Fine‐Needle Aspiration Biopsy of Thyroid Bed Lesions in Post‐Thyroidectomy Patients
Author(s) -
Zini Chiara,
Thomas Stephen,
Raad Roy,
White Barbara,
Antic Tatjana,
Cohen Ronald,
Oto Aytekin
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.7863/jum.2012.31.12.1973
Subject(s) - medicine , thyroidectomy , thyroid , fine needle aspiration , biopsy , aspiration biopsy , radiology , surgery
Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of nondiagnostic fine‐needle aspiration biopsy results for post‐thyroidectomy bed lesions in patients with thyroid cancer. Methods The Institutional Review Board approved this retrospective Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act–compliant study with a waiver for informed consent. Twenty‐one patients with nondiagnostic fine‐needle aspiration biopsy of a thyroid bed lesion after thyroidectomy with at least 1 year of follow‐up with neck imaging were retrospectively enrolled in our study. The tumor type, local staging, radiotherapy, serum thyroglobulin levels, and imaging characteristics of the thyroid bed lesions were recorded. All patients underwent sonographically guided fine‐needle aspiration biopsy of the thyroid bed lesion. Results The mean imaging follow‐up ± SD was 46.3 ± 28.7 months. Lesions in 20 patients (95.2%) were stable on imaging. Most thyroid bed lesions were hypoechoic (80.9%), and none showed calcifications. The mean thyroid bed mass maximum diameter was 1.17 ± 0.6 cm (range, 0.3–2.9 cm). Conclusions Thyroid bed lesions with nondiagnostic fine‐needle aspiration biopsy results after thyroidectomy can be managed with imaging follow‐up; 1‐year imaging is a reasonable interval after biopsy.