Critical analysis of bethesda grading of fnac in thyroid diseases with histopathological correlation

At present the Bethesda system of reporting thyroid cytopathology is widely used as a standard reporting system for FNAC. In the selection of patients for surgery, FNAC is considered the "gold standard." Despite this, histopathological examination of the thyroid gland is considered superior to FNAC in diagnosing thyroid pathologies due to pitfalls in FNAC such as scanty sample, vascularity of thyroid swelling, variation in sampling technique and skill of the performing expert, and experience of pathologist interpreting the aspirate. As a result, the purpose of this study was to investigate the cytology of palpable thyroid lesions in order to reduce surgical intervention, as well as the need for histopathological confirmation of the diagnosis in order to plan post-surgical management of malignant thyroid lesions. Materials and Methods: Representative sample of first 50 thyroid FNAC and biopsies between 1/05/22 to 30/4/23 were collected. All the patients underwent fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in our institute aspiration/ non-aspiration techniques were used. After prior written consent. Correlation of cytology finding was done with clinical & histological findings. Results: This study shows sensitivity of 100% & specificity of 97.78% of thyroid FNAC by Bethesda category compared with histopathology. Conclusion: Diagnostic accuracy of cytopathology is proven by the present study with 100% sensitivity and 97.78% of specificity. Thus, as a screening test before surgery, FNAC still needs to be followed as a routine procedure for successful patient management.