Radiological, cytological and histopathological correlation in patients undergoing thyroid surgery at a tertiary care hospital in western Gujarat: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: Thyroid gland is affected by various pathologies ranging from diffuse enlargement (goiter) to nodular lesions, thyroiditis, and malignancies. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a simple & most cost-effective method to diagnose neck mass located superficially. Ultrasonography (USG) is the initial imaging modality in the evaluation of the neck swellings. The objective of the study being to correlate cytology, radiology and histopathology of patients undergoing thyroid surgery in our tertiary care center. Methods: All patients who were operated for thyroid gland surgery at our tertiary care hospital of western Gujarat at Ear, Nose, and Throat Department between October 2022 to March 2024 were analysed using statistical software. This study included 54 patients. Results: Out of the fifty-four (54) individuals who showed signs of thyroid enlargement, forty-five (45) were women and 9 were men. The average age of the participants in this research was 43.25±15.50 years. In our research, 79.67% of patients were classified as benign, 12.96% as malignant, and 7.4% were considered suspicious for malignancy. Only 10% were moderately suspicious of cancer (category IV). No patient was identified as highly suspicious of cancer (category V). FNAC specificity for benign was 95.24% and for malignant 93.02%. For TIRADS specificity was 93.33% for benign and 95.45% malignant. Conclusions: Most of the times it is easy to diagnose a thyroid swelling by clinical, radiological, cytological and histo-pathological examinations. Our study analyses FNAC with Bethesda, USG with TIRADS as a most important aspect for early diagnosis carcinoma of thyroid.