scholarly journals Eliminating the “Atypia of Undetermined Significance/Follicular Lesion of Undetermined Significance” Category From the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology

2011 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
pp. 896-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remmi S. Singh ◽  
Helen H. Wang
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bakiarathana Anand ◽  
Anita Ramdas ◽  
Marie Moses Ambroise ◽  
Nirmal P. Kumar

Introduction. The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) is a significant step to standardize the reporting of thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA). It has high predictive value, reproducibility, and improved clinical significance. Aim. The study was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility and reproducibility of “TBSRTC” at our institute. Methods and Material. The study included 646 thyroid FNAs which were reviewed by three pathologists and classified according to TBSRTC. Cytohistological correlation was done for 100 cases with surgical follow-up and the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, diagnostic accuracy, and risk of malignancy (ROM) were calculated. The interobserver variation among three pathologists was also assessed. Results. The distribution of cases in various TBSRTC categories is as follows: I—nondiagnostic 13.8%, II—benign 75.9%, III—atypia of undetermined significance (AUS)/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (FLUS) 1.2%, IV—follicular neoplasm (FN)/suspicious for follicular neoplasm (SFN) 3.7%, V—suspicious for malignancy (SM) 2.6%, and VI—malignant 2.8%. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy are 72.4%, 94.3%, 84%, 89.2%, and 87.9%, respectively. The ROM of various TBSRTC categories were II—8.5%; III—66.7%; IV—63.6%; and V and VI—100%. Cohen’s Weighted Kappa score was 0.99 which indicates almost perfect agreement among the three pathologists. Conclusions. Our study substantiates greater reproducibility among pathologists using TBSRTC to arrive at a precise diagnosis with an added advantage of predicting the risk of malignancy which enables the clinician to plan for follow-up or surgery and also the extent of surgery.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roghayeh Fazeli ◽  
Eric B. Schneider ◽  
Syed Z. Ali ◽  
Martha A. Zeiger ◽  
Matthew T. Olson

Objective: Diagnostic frequency ratios such as the atypia of undetermined significance (AUS):malignant ratio are touted to be useful for laboratory precision benchmarking. We therefore sought to examine their reproducibility and usefulness at a tertiary hospital. Methods: We reviewed thyroid fine-needle aspirates (FNA) submitted to our institution from outside laboratories and evaluated the ability of diagnostic frequency ratios to capture the complexity of The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC). Specifically, we evaluated the ability of the AUS:malignant ratio to describe the frequencies of the other TBSRTC diagnoses. Results: A total of 2,784 cases from 19 laboratories were included. The use of the AUS category varied the most. There was insufficient reflection of the non-AUS nonmalignant TBSRTC diagnostic frequencies in our analysis, and these results do not appear to arise from observer variability in the outside laboratories. Conclusion: Diagnostic frequency ratios are not reproducible in our experience and fail to describe the other TBSRTC categories. As such, they are unlikely to prove sufficient for benchmarking laboratory precision with TBSRTC.


Author(s):  
Kalpesh Hathi ◽  
Tarek Rahmeh ◽  
Vicki Munro ◽  
Victoria Northrup ◽  
Ali Sherazi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Thyroid nodules are stratified through fine-needle aspiration (FNA) and are often categorized using The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology, which estimates the risk of malignancy for six cytopathological categories. The atypia of undetermined significance (AUS) and follicular lesion of undetermined significance (FLUS) categories have varying malignancy rates reported in the literature which can range from 6 to 72.9%. Due to this heterogeneity, we assessed the malignancy rate and effectiveness of repeat FNA (rFNA) for AUS/FLUS thyroid cytopathology at our institution. Methods Electronic health records of patients with AUS/FLUS thyroid cytopathology on FNA at our center since the implementation of the Bethesda System on May 1, 2014–December 31, 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Patient demographics, treatment pathway, and pathology results were collected. The treatment pathway of the nodules, the rFNA results, and the malignant histopathology results were reported. Malignancy rates were calculated as an upper and lower limit estimate. Results This study described 182 AUS/FLUS thyroid nodules from 177 patients. In total, 24 thyroid nodules were deemed malignant upon histopathology, yielding a final malignancy rate of 13.2–25.3%. All of the malignancies were variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma. The malignancy rate of the nodules which underwent resection without rFNA (21.5%) was lower than the malignancy rate of the nodules which underwent resection after rFNA (43.8%). 45.5% of the rFNA results were re-classified into more definitive categories. Conclusion The malignancy rate of AUS/FLUS thyroid cytopathology at our center is in line with the risk of malignancy stated by the 2017 Bethesda System. However, our malignancy rate is lower than some other Canadian centers and approximately half of our rFNAs were re-classified, highlighting the importance of establishing center-specific malignancy and rFNA re-classification rates to guide treatment decisions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (02) ◽  
pp. e221-e226
Author(s):  
Hamdan Ahmed Pasha ◽  
Rahim Dhanani ◽  
Ainulakbar Mughal ◽  
Kaleem S. Ahmed ◽  
Anwar Suhail

Abstract Introduction Atypia of undetermined significance (AUS) or follicular lesion of undetermined significance (FLUS) is one of the six diagnostic categories of the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology. The prevalence of malignancy among Bethesda category III cytology is variable, ranging from 5% to 37% in the literature. Objective To determine the rate of malignancy in thyroid nodules reported as Bethesda category III. Methods A total of 495 patients underwent surgical intervention for thyroid nodules from January 2015 to December 2017. The present study included 81 cases reported as Bethesda category III, and their medical records were reviewed. Results Out of 495 fine-needle aspiration cytology samples, 81 (16.4%) samples were labeled as AUS/FLUS. Among these 81 patients, the mean age was 43.0 years (± 13.9), with only 11 (14%) patients older than 55 years of age. Most of our patients were female (n = 69; 85.2%), and the rest were male. The rate of malignancy based on the final histology was of 33.3% (n = 27). The majority were 17 cases (21%) of papillary carcinoma, followed by follicular carcinoma (n = 6) (7.4%). Conclusion The risk of malignancy can be higher than it is commonly believed, and guidelines should be based on the data from the institutions themselves for a better assessment of the outcomes.


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