Objective: To investigate the differences in human bone marrow endothelial cell marker 1 (HBME-1) expression in thyroid follicular adenoma (FA) and follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy.
Study design: An observational study.
Place and duration of study: The Department of Electrical Diagnosis, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin Province, China, from January 2017 to April 2018.
Methodology: Forty-five patients with FTC were selected as FTC group, and 45 patients with FA were selected as FA group. Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy specimens from two groups were analyzed for HBME-1 expression. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of HBME-1 expression by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy specimens in FTC group were analyzed using HBME-1 expression in the pathological tissues as criteria.
Results: The positive expression rate of HBME-1 in ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy specimens was higher in the FTC group than that in the FA group (p=0.003). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of HBME-1 expression by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy specimens in the FTC group were 77.78% (28/36), 88.89% (8/9) and 80.00% (36/45), respectively.
Conclusion: HBME-1 detection with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy may be useful clinically to pick out cases with follicular thyroid carcinoma, and that thyroid follicular adenoma cases need close follow-up.