• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.168-172
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• 2002

Objectives: This study was done to determine the diagnostic efficacy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNA), frozen section biopsy (FSx) and ultrasonography in a palpable thyroid mass. Materials and Methods: During the period from July 1999 to March 2002, the medical records of 98 patients who underwent a thyroidectomy for thyroid mass, at the Department of Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital, were reviewed retrospectively. Ninety eight cases were classified according to whether the FNA cytological diagnosis inadequate, benign, suspicious, or malignant and the FSx diagnosis benign or malignant and the ultrasonographic examination was benign, suspicious, or malignant. The diagnostic correlations of ultrasonography, FNA cytology, frozen section, and both FNA cytology and frozen section with definite histologic diagnosis were evaluated. Results: According to the FNA cytological interpretation, 76 cases were diagnosed as benign, 6 cases suspicious, 13 cases malignant, and 3 cases inadequate. The sensitivity and specificity for FNA were 86.3% and 95.9% and for FSx 95.5% and 100% respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of FNA and FSx were 93.5% and 98.9% respectively. Based on a definite histologic diagnosis, the ultrasonographic examination had a sensitivity and a specificity of 77.2% and 78.9%. Conclusion: The results confirm that FNA cytology is a reliable and useful tool in the initial evaluation of a palpable thyroid mass compared to the ultrasonographic examination. Intraoperative FSx is a valuable diagnostic procedure to confirm the cytological diagnosis with undetermined or unsatisfactory cytological diagnosis.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2008

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology of the breast is a useful method for diagnosing breast lesions. Yet making the definite diagnosis with performing FNA is limited by some problems, such as the low cellularity, the poor preservation and the obscuring background. Recent studies have found that liquid-based cytology solves such problems, but it is an expensive method and it is limited by the loss of the background information. The purpose of this study is to compare the Liqui-$PREP^{TM}$, a new manual liquid-based method of cytology, and the conventional smears for analyzing breast FNA cytology materials. A total of 31 randomized FNA specimens of breast were studied. In each case, both the conventional smears and the Liqui-$PREP^{TM}$ method were performed, and the smears were evaluated for cellularity, cellular preservation, the background, the cytologic features and the architectural arrangement. The cellularity and architectural arrangement were equal for both preparations. The Liqui-$PREP^{TM}$ specimens showed better cellular preservation, loss of the obscuring background, no overlapping of cells and a smaller area to screen compared with the conventional smears. Moreover, it has the potential advantages of being able to use the remaining specimens for immunohistochemical study and ploidy analysis, and it can reduce the costs for preparation compared with the other liquid-based methods of cytology. But some background information is lost in the Liqui-$PREP^{TM}$ specimens, the same as the other liquid-based methods of cytology. In conclusion, the Liqui-$PREP^{TM}$ and conventional smears showed good correlation, but they have their respective advantages and disadvantages. These results suggest that Liqui-$PREP^{TM}$ can contribute to making the accurate diagnosis with performing breast FNA cytology when it is used along with other methods.