Abstract:
Objective To study application value of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNA-C) combined with thyroglobulin measurement in fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNA-Tg) in the diagnosis of lateral neck lymph node metastasis in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC).
Methods The data of 87 patients with DTC undergoing lymphodissection were analyzed retrospectively. A total of 124 suspicious lymph nodes were detected by preoperative ultrasound examination, among which 76 lymph nodes were confirmed as metastatic lymph nodes (metastatic lymph nodes group) and 48 lymph nodes were confirmed as non-metastatic lymph nodes (non-metastatic lymph nodes group). All patients were examined by FNA-C and FNA-Tg in combination, and the diagnostic results and diagnostic efficacy of FNA-C, FNA-TG and FNA-C combined with FNA-TG were compared using postoperative pathological examination taking as the gold standard.
Results The level of FNA-Tg in the metastatic lymph nodes group was(232.45±41.32) μg/L, which was significantly higher than (14.67±3.24) μg/L of non-metastatic lymph nodes group(P < 0.05). Diagnostic sensitivity, accuracy and negative predictive value of FNA-C combined with FNA-Tg were 96.05%, 94.29%, and 93.62%, which were significantly higher than 76.32%, 83.87%, 71.88%, respectively by FNA-C(P < 0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity of FNA-C combined with FNA-Tg was significantly higher than that by FNA-Tg (P < 0.05).
Conclusion FNA-C combined with FNA-Tg helps to improve the diagnostic efficiency of DTC lateral neck lymph node metastasis.