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Hindi Research Article
Correlation of Hot Nodules and Cytopathology: Nine Years at an Academic Institution
| Mehdi Djekidel1*, Guoping Cai2, Rafay Ahmed1 and Constantine Theoharis2 | |
| 1Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, USA | |
| 2Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, USA | |
| Corresponding Author : | Mehdi Djekidel Department of Diagnostic Radiology Yale University School of Medicine 310 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA Tel: 203-200-5180 E-mail: mehdi.djekidel@yale.edu |
| Received April 28, 2014; Accepted May 14, 2014; Published May 21, 2014 | |
| Citation: Djekidel M, Cai G, Ahmed R, Theoharis C (2014) Correlation of Hot Nodules and Cytopathology: Nine Years at an Academic Institution. OMICS J Radiol 3:162. doi:10.4172/2167-7964.1000162 | |
| Copyright: © 2014 Djekidel M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Background: Thyroid nodules are frequently diagnosed in everyday clinical practice. Strategies for the evaluation of their potential malignant risk and clinical management approaches have been widely developed by multiple endocrine and surgical societies. These guidelines are dynamically changing and the malignant potential of a hot thyroid nodule has become a matter of debate.
Methods: All thyroid scans (n=137) performed at our institution over nine years (January 2003 to December 2012), for which a cytopathology result was available for review were retrospectively reanalyzed by an experienced nuclear medicine physician. 65 scans demonstrated clearly hot nodules and were correlated with cytopathology results.
Results: Only one of sixty-five nodules (1.5%) was found to be malignant: a Hürthle cell carcinoma. An additional papillary thyroid carcinoma was found incidentally in another patient, however corresponding to a cold nodule in the contralateral lobe to the hot nodule.
Conclusions: A hot nodule on a thyroid scan likely confers an overall low but non-negligible risk for malignancy. Further studies on larger datasets pooled from various centers would be valuable.
