RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the most valuable, cost-effective and accurate method for the evaluation of patients with thyroid nodules. One of its limitations is that up to 20% of results are nondiagnostic or unsatisfactory. The aim of this study was to analyze the number of thyroid FNAC specimens with nondiagnostic results obtained on an outpatient basis and how many of these had to be repeated according to their results. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective analysis of diagnostic reports of nondiagnostic thyroid FNAC specimens obtained between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2012 which were retrieved by means of a computerized search. The FNAC results and the age and sex of the patients were collected. RESULTS: From a total of 15,292 thyroid FNAC specimens, 6.8% (n = 1,033) corresponded to nondiagnostic cases. Eligible diagnostic reports for analysis included 877 cases (106 were repetitions of previous nondiagnostic FNAC). After an initial nondiagnostic finding for 771 FNAC smears, 29.5% (n = 225) were repeated with the following results: 43.6% insufficient, 49.3% benign, 6.2% follicular neoplasm, 0.4% suspicious for malignancy and 0.4% malignant. Twenty-two patients underwent a second repeated FNAC. Here the findings were: 36.4% insufficient, 59.1% benign, 4.5% follicular neoplasm, 0.0% suspicious for malignancy and 0.0% malignant. CONCLUSIONS: There was a low rate of repeated FNAC among the group of nondiagnostic cases. With repeated FNAC, the rate of nondiagnostic cases and the number of results that potentially demand surgery diminish.