Concordance between fine needle aspiration cytology and frozen section with histopathology diagnosis of thyroid lesions

Background: The study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of frozen sections with fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and histopathology in thyroid lesions. Methods: FNAC and frozen section (FS) were performed on 40 individuals undergoing thyroid nodule surgery. The accuracy of FNAC and FS was tested using a conclusive histological section as a reference. Both FS and FNAC were evaluated in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy. Results: The incidence of thyroid disorder is higher in females than in males (72.5% vs. 27.5%). Histopathology of 40 thyroid specimens showed 35 cases of follicular adenoma (87.5%), two cases of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (5%), one follicular carcinoma (2.5%), one medullary carcinoma (2.5%), and one papillary carcinoma (2.5%). The overall accuracy of FS was 78.8%. FNAC demonstrated a PPV of 67.8% and a NPV of 75.6%. FS demonstrated a PPV and a NPV of 74% and 84.4%, respectively. Conclusion: The study showed that FS was slightly more sensitive than FNAC and more specific in detecting malignancy among thyroid lesions. It is concluded that FS evaluation remains useful and complementary to FNAC in the surgical management of thyroid nodules. FS can be employed to plan the extent of surgery, a role requiring high specificity.