Needle core biopsy in the diagnosis of pediatric thyroid neoplasms: a single institution retrospective review

Abstract

Needle core biopsy appears to have a low rate of associated complications, and its sensitivity for diagnosing PC and follicular neoplasm is comparable to what has been reported for fine needle aspiration biopsy in a similar patient population.

Thyroid core needle biopsy: taking stock of the situation

“…A single institute experience of CNB in children was reported by Yunker et al [27]; 36 % of nodules were malignant, and CNB had 13 % of inadequacy with sensitivity and specificity for cancer of 85 and 63 %, respectively. Of interest, no complications were recorded.…”

Risk of malignancy for each Bethesda class in pediatric thyroid nodules

“…In this setting, core needle biopsy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound findings, flourodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), different immunohistochemistry and genetic panels have been tried to better assess the malignancy risk [1]. For children, core needle biopsy may be achieved without an increased complication risk, although the accuracy of diagnosing malignancy seems to be equivalent to FNA [21]. Although immunohistochemical panels, PET, MRI and US seem promising to predict malignancy in adult thyroid nodules, none of the methods have been trialed specifically in a pediatric population, probably because of the rareness of the disease [22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Core Needle Biopsy of the Thyroid: 2016 Consensus Statement and Recommendations from Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology

“…However, three studies reported a non-diagnostic result rate of more than 10% (13%, 23%, and 40.6%, respectively) (43560). Several current guidelines, such as those of the NCI, AACE/ACE/AME, and KSThR, suggest CNB for thyroid nodules with repeated non-diagnostic FNA results (313261).…”

“…Targeting errors are usually caused by inexperienced operators, small thyroid nodules, deep nodules, and heavily calcified nodules (1837). Pathological analysis of specimens obtained after a targeting error reveals the presence of normal thyroid tissue only, skeletal muscle, or adipose tissue (60). …”

“…In addition, most (67.3%) incidentally detected thyroid lesions in children are cysts (78). Only a single institute has reported its experience with CNB (60). This study showed that CNB had relatively high non-diagnostic (13%) and inconclusive (30%) rates.…”