AbstractBackground: Thyroid lesions are common, presenting mostly as enlargement of thyroid gland. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the thyroid is an easy procedure providing rapid and accurate diagnosis. Terminology for reporting has varied amongst pathologists. Bethesda system provides guidelines for cytological reporting category and management. Aim: To classify the thyroid lesions according to Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytology, compare with conventional system and correlate cytological diagnosis Material and Methods: A prospective study was conducted over a period of 2 years on 202 consecutive patients. FNAC of thyroid gland was done and smears prepared.Smears were reviewed and cytological reporting was done according to both conventional and Bethesda systems. Result: Most of the patients were females (177, 87.6%) with a mean age of 37.4 years. 4.0% were non diagnostic, 91.1% were benign, 1.5% were atypia/follicular lesion of undetermined significance, 1.0% were suspicious for follicular neoplasm/ follicular neoplasm and 2.4% were malignant. Radiological findings were available in 100cases and showed diagnostic deviation in 2 cases with cytological findings. Histopathological correlation was present in 16 cases and revealed minor deviation in one case. Conclusion: The Bethesda System for Thyroid Cytology is a useful method in reporting different thyroid lesions. In our study a definite interpretation for lesions in category I and III was provided by following specific criteria. Standardising the reporting methodology increases the reproducibility of diagnosis.
Keywords: Cytology; Correlation; Conventional; Bethesda System; Radiological; Biochemical; FNAC.