Incidental Thyroid Nodules Found During Acute Stroke Angiography: Prevalence, Outcomes, and Suggested Management Guidelines.

OBJECTIVE: In stroke patients, extensive interventions for incidental thyroid nodules can be burdensome and costly. It appears that the risk of malignancy has not been reported in angiographically detected nodules and outcomes have not yet been described in patients, receiving acute stroke work-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Incidental thyroid nodules were found on neck computerized tomography angiography or magnetic resonance angiography performed during inpatient stroke workup (January 2017 to September 2019). These patient cases were reviewed based on sonography reports, diagnosis, and follow-up care. RESULTS: Of the 13 563 patients, 192 had incidental thyroid nodules (prevalence 1.4%). Twenty-six died from comorbidities and 22 received thyroid sonography. Twelve nodules from 10 patients had sonographic characteristics for biopsy: 10 benign, 1 indeterminate, and 1 papillary thyroid cancer (risk of malignancy: 8%). The cancer patient underwent hemithyroidectomy and is disease-free. Follow-up of the remaining patients showed no worsening or suspicious nodules. The American College of Radiology (ACR) guidelines would have prevented 8 unnecessary sonograms and 1 biopsy without missing malignancy. CONCLUSION: Although a small risk of malignancy was noted, 95% of patients undergoing additional diagnostic thyroid testing had clinically insignificant results. The ACR guidelines can prevent unnecessary interventions. Given the 14% mortality rate in the study cohort, it is proposed that a clinical evaluation of patients is important before undergoing further diagnostics, as comorbidities may be worse than a thyroid cancer.

Rapid On-Site Evaluation With Telecytology Significantly Reduced Unsatisfactory Rates of Thyroid Fine-Needle Aspiration.

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated telecytology rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) for thyroid ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first case-control clinical trial of thyroid telecytology. METHODS: We introduced on-site ROSE in our institution's thyroid clinic for 6 months, followed by telecytology for 12 months. Our institution's ultrasound clinic, where ROSE is not provided, was used as a control group for each period. RESULTS: Both groups had similar initial unsatisfactory rates (thyroid clinic: 8.8%; ultrasound clinic: 8.0%) before the study began. The thyroid clinic's unsatisfactory rate was significantly reduced to 1.6% after on-site ROSE (P = .001) and to 3.8% after telecytology ROSE (P = .010), with no significant difference between on-site and telecytology ROSE periods (P > .05). The ultrasound clinic's unsatisfactory rate was unchanged for both periods. Concordance between telecytology ROSE and final adequacy was 97% (κ = 0.699). CONCLUSIONS: Telecytology ROSE reduces unsatisfactory rates for ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration without compromising patient care.

Ectopic Thyroid Tissue: Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Analysis.

Ectopic thyroid tissue is rare and controversial. Some experts consider it to always be metastatic thyroid carcinoma, whereas others consider it benign as long as it is restricted to few follicles without cytoarchitectural features of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and molecular studies have not yet been performed to further characterize this entity. We retrospectively searched our pathology files for all ectopic thyroid inclusions and reviewed clinicopathologic characteristics and concurrent thyroid pathologic findings. We identified 8 cases from 7 patients. Ectopic thyroid tissue was present in the following locations: neck soft tissue: 3, thymus: 2, neck lymph nodes: 2, perihilar soft tissue: 1. All patients had histologically benign thyroid specimens. BRAFV600E (VE1) IHC, HBME-1 IHC, galectin-3 IHC, BRAFV600E allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and NRAS/KRAS pyrosequencing were performed. To assess the sensitivity and specificity of BRAFV600E IHC compared with PCR; we tested 13 cases of primary and metastatic papillary and follicular thyroid carcinomas. All the ectopic cases were HBME-1, galectin-3, BRAFV600E (IHC, PCR), and NRAS/KRAS mutation negative (specificity=100%). Compared with PCR, BRAF IHC had 89% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Lack of common carcinoma-associated mutations supports benign nature of this entity. BRAF, HBME-1, and galectin-3 IHC are accurate and helpful when not enough tissue is available for molecular studies. IHC and molecular studies are more helpful than morphology alone in identifying benign thyroid rests.