Medical Science Research Bulletin

Background: Thyroid nodules are a common clinical finding, usually encountered incidentally, 7–15% of them are cancerous. It is not clear how diagnostic accuracy of FNAC has changed since it became a critical part of thyroid nodule evaluation four decades ago.

Aim of study: To assess the diagnostic value of FNAC in solitary thyroid lesions in a sample of Iraqi patients.

Patients and Methods: A prospective study which was conducted at the surgical consultation clinic at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital in Baghdad for a period of one year from February 2025 to February 2026. It included 100 patients who were diagnosed by clinical examination as a single thyroid nodule. All patients were evaluated thoroughly by taking history and clinical examination of the neck and other systems. Patients were sent for FNAC on their first visit with other investigations. Surgery was done for all patients under general anesthesia using collar incision. Patients were discharged and followed up till the results of histopathology were available.

Result: In this study, 88% of samples showed benign lesions by FNAC and 12% were malignant. By histopathology, 7% of samples were malignant lesions. The sensitivity of FNAC was 85.7%, while the specificity was 97.8%. PPV was 75%, NPV was 98.9%, and accuracy was 96.9%.

Conclusion: FNAC is a practical, cost-effective, and first-line diagnostic tool for single thyroid nodules, which can lead to better surgical decisions and better use of resources in clinical practice.

Solitary thyroid nodule, FNAC, Histopathology, accuracy

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