Morphology to morphometry in cytological evaluation of thyroid lesions

AIM: To evaluate the cytomorphometric features in fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of thyroid lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: FNAC of 36 thyroid cases was reviewed. The study included 10 cases each of follicular lesion, adenomatous goiter, papillary carcinoma, 4 cases of medullary carcinoma and 2 cases of anaplastic carcinoma. Their ages ranged from 28 to 50 years, and there were nine females and one male. Morphometric analysis was done on aspiration smears from 36 thyroid lesions. Hematoxylin and Eosin stained smears were examined using image analyzer Proplus V software. Morphological parameters measured included mean nuclear diameter, mean nuclear perimeter, mean nuclear area, circular rate, largest to smallest dimension ratio (LS ratio) and coefficient of variation of nuclear area (NACV). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Statistical evaluation was carried out using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for the five variables, both within the group and in between the groups. The result was considered significant when P < 0.05. RESULTS: The follicular carcinomas had higher LS ratio than patients with adenomatous goiters. Mean nuclear diameter and the mean nuclear perimeter were higher in anaplastic carcinomas when compared to other subtypes and were the least for follicular neoplasms. CONCLUSION: When correctly applied, quantitative estimation of cytological nuclear features can play an important role in preoperative assessment and can complement morphological features in thyroid lesions.