The usefulness of liquid based cytology method on thyroid fine needle aspiration cytology: the comparison of thin prep, cytospin and cell block methods

Thyroid cancer is the most common type of endocrine malignancy. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the thyroid is a very common procedure for the initial evaluation and diagnosis of thyroid lesions. It is a simple, safe, reliable and cost effective procedure as a first line technique for the diagnosis and management of thyroid lesions. Additional material is often obtained for cytospin and cell block (CB) preparations.In this study, we aimed to investigate usefulness of ThinPrep (TP) which is a new method for thyroid FNA. We reviewed 135 cases which TP, cytospin and CB slides prepared respectively from thyroid FNA materials, and we compared these cytological results with histological thyroidectomy results of same cases.TP was diagnostic in 94.8% of cases (128/135), cytospin diagnostic in 77.6% of cases (104/135), and CB diagnostic in 57.7% of cases (78/135). TP, cytospin and CB methods used in conjunction with sensitivity 100%, specificity 98.8%, respectively. When methods were evaluated separately sensitivity was 100%, specificity was 100% for TP and cytospin methods; and sensitivity was 95.8%, specificity was 97.7% for CB.TP slide preparation in thyroid FNAB is useful method and additional material is often obtained for other methods. Also, TP slide preparation is superior to cytospin and CB slide preparation and is more likely to have greater cellularity for diagnosis and cellular details are seen more clearly. As a conclusion, using all three methods is the best way for correct diagnosis.