In our department, ultrasonic echography and aspiration cytology have been used as adjuncts for differential diagnosis of the thyroid tumor. We report the recent eight years' experience with echography and aspiration cytology, and discuss the great value of these techniques.
Echography with B-mode or sensitivity graded method was carried out in 616 operated patients with thyroid disorders, including 157 cases of carcinoma. Echogram pattern was classified into six types (I, Ip, II, IIc, III and IV) and was compared with pathological findings. In benign neoplasms the over-all true positive rate was 336 of 385 patients or 87.2%, while the rate in carcinomas 88 of 155 cases or 56.8% when the type I p, III and IV were regarded tentatively as a malignant pattern. Aspiration cytology using a fine needle was made on 316 patients. It's true positive rate was 178/190 or 93.7% in the benign tumors dnd 72/102 or 70.6% in carcinomas. However, when echography and aspiration cytology were combined with physical and X-ray examination, the diagnostic accuracy of the carcinoma was raised to 87.0%.
The both techniques are considered to offer many advantages to preoperative differential diagnosis of thyroid tumors.
