Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound and fine-needle aspiration in the study of thyroid nodule and multinodular goitre.

OBJECTIVE: Ultrasonography and cytology obtained by fine-needle aspiration are part of the basic study of the thyroid nodule. Although they are not diagnostic in every case, they are cost-effective methods that inform surgical treatment and its extent. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography associated with fine-needle aspiration to predict malignancy in nodular thyroid pathology. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: We collected prospective data from patients undergoing thyroidectomy by single nodule or multinodular goitre between 2006 and 2016. A total of 417 patients were included. Ultrasounds were classified as suspected of malignancy if they had 2 or more of the following characteristics: hypoechogenicity, microcalcifications, intranodular central hypervascularization, irregular margins and poorly defined edges. MEASUREMENTS: Ultrasound and fine-needle aspiration accuracy. RESULTS: In the postoperative study, 40% presented malignant pathology. 33% of patients with nonsuspicious ultrasound and 73% of those with suspicious ultrasound had malignant disease. Among patients with single nodule and suspicious ultrasound, the malignancy rate reached 80%. As for cytology, 100% of Bethesda VI patients, 88% of V, 63% of IV, 31% of III and 12% of II were found to have carcinoma. The combination of the 2 tests showed a high predictive value, particularly in cases of Bethesda IV cytology. CONCLUSIONS: Thyroid cytology provides high predictive value of the presence of carcinoma. The predictive value of ultrasound is also high, mainly in the study of isolated nodules. The combination of the 2 tests results in increased diagnostic accuracy.

Biomarcadores moleculares implicados en el proceso de desdiferenciación tumoral del carcinoma de tiroides de origen epitelial: perspectivas / Molecular biomarkers involved in the tumor dedifferentiation process of thyroid carcinoma of epithelial origin: perspectives

Aunque el carcinoma diferenciado de tiroides, papilar o folicular, tiene habitualmente un buen pronóstico, existe un porcentaje de casos que presentan un comportamiento más agresivo con recurrencias locales y metastatización, ya sea en el momento del diagnostico (en menos de un 5% de los casos) ya en el seguimiento. A pesar de que existen diferentes sistemas de evaluación del pronóstico del carcinoma diferenciado de tiroides, basados especialmente en datos clínicos y patológicos, no hay en la actualidad un criterio válido que permita definir un tratamiento diferencial entre los pacientes con carcinomas de bajo riesgo y aquellos con carcinomas más agresivos. La identificación de los pacientes de riesgo en el momento del diagnóstico sería clave para desarrollar nuevas estrategias terapéuticas y mejorar el seguimiento, siendo en este sentido los biomarcadores moleculares una herramienta de gran valor (AU)

Abstract Although papillary or follicular well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma usually has a good prognosis, a proportion of well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas show a more aggressive behavior with local recurrence and metastases, either at diagnosis (in less than 5% of cases) or over time. Although there are several scoring systems to assess prognosis of well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma, mainly based on clinical and pathological data, there is currently no valid criterion to define an adequate, differential treatment for patients with low risk carcinomas as compared to those with more aggressive tumors. Identification of patients with a high risk at the time of diagnosis would be essential to develop new therapeutic strategies and to improve follow-up, and molecular biomarkers could be a highly useful tool for this purpose (AU)

[Molecular biomarkers involved in the tumor dedifferentiation process of thyroid carcinoma of epithelial origin: perspectives]. / Biomarcadores moleculares implicados en el proceso de desdiferenciación tumoral del carcinoma de tiroides de origen epitelial: perspectivas.

Although papillary or follicular well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma usually has a good prognosis, a proportion of well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas show a more aggressive behavior with local recurrence and metastases, either at diagnosis (in less than 5% of cases) or over time. Although there are several scoring systems to assess prognosis of well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma, mainly based on clinical and pathological data, there is currently no valid criterion to define an adequate, differential treatment for patients with low risk carcinomas as compared to those with more aggressive tumors. Identification of patients with a high risk at the time of diagnosis would be essential to develop new therapeutic strategies and to improve follow-up, and molecular biomarkers could be a highly useful tool for this purpose.