The preoperative diagnosis of differentiated thyroid cancer was made by fine needle aspiration biopsy, ultrasonography and radionuclide scintigraphy(99mTc, 131I). Thallium was detected by its affinity for thyroid cancer. We investigated 187 cases
retrospectively at the Department of Surgery, Kwangju Christian Hospital from Oct. 1993 to Jul. 1995 using a combination of thallium scan and fine needle aspiration biopsy.
@ES The results were as follows:
@EN 1) Among 187 patients who underwent operation due to thyroid nodule, 75 patients were malignant and 112 patients were benign histologically .
2) Thallium scan was done among 140 patients(malignant 62, benign 78). 40 patients were positive findings from 62 malignant (Sensitivity 64.5%). And 48 patients were negative findings from 78 benign(specificity 61.5%). The diagnostic accuracy
was
62.9%.
3) In papillary cancer, 10 patients positive findings at thallium scan out of 52 patients(57.7%). In follicular cancer 10 patients who were underwent thallium scan, and all (100%) were positive findings.
4) Fine needle aspiration biopsy was done among 69 malignant patients, 44 patients were found positive (sensitivity 63.8%).
5) The false negative value of thallium scan 35.5%(22/62), and false positive value was 38.5%(30/78).
6) In combination of thallium scan and fine needle aspiration biopsy, the positive predictive value of cancer was 86.5%(4/74) : in papillary cancer 87.1%(54/62) and in follicular cancer 83.3%(10/12).
We purpose that early and delayed thallium-201 images, when combined with fine needle aspiration biopsy, provide the most valuable preoperative information regarding to the nature of a cold thyroid nodule.
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