Background: We aim to validate the diagnostic performance of thyroid core needle biopsy (CNB) for diagnosing malignancy in clinical settings to align with the changes made in recently updated thyroid CNB guidelines.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 1,381 thyroid CNB and 2,223 fine needle aspiration (FNA) samples. The FNA and CNB slides were interpreted according to the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology and updated practice guidelines for thyroid CNB, respectively.
Results: Compared to FNA, CNB showed lower rates of inconclusive results categories I (2.8% vs. 11.2%) and III (1.2% vs. 6.2%), and higher rates of categories II (60.9% vs. 50.4%) and IV (17.5% vs. 2.0%). The upper and lower bounds of the risk of malignancy (ROM) for category IV of CNB were 43.2% and 26.6%, respectively. The CNB subcategory IVb with nuclear atypia had a higher ROM than the subcategory without nuclear atypia (40%-62% vs. 23%-36%). In histologically confirmed cases, there was no significant difference in the diagnostic performance between CNB and FNA for malignancy. However, neoplastic diseases were more frequently detected by CNB than by FNA (88.8% vs. 77.6%, P=0.046). In category IV, there was no difference in unnecessary surgery rate between CNB and FNA (4.7% vs. 6.9%, P=0.6361).
Conclusion: Thyroid CNB decreased the rate of inconclusive results and showed a higher category IV diagnostic rate than FNA. The revised guidelines for thyroid CNB proved to be an excellent reporting system for assessing thyroid nodules.
Keywords: Biopsy, fine-needle; Biopsy, large-core needle; Retrospective studies; Thyroid cancer, papillary; Thyroid neoplasms; Thyroid nodule; Unnecessary procedures.