Introduction: Cytological evaluation of thyroid swellings is now used as a screening tool. The distinction of the benign and malignant thyroid lesions is very important because malignancy necessitates surgery, where as strict patient follow-up is necessary in the case of a benign mass. With too little complications now a days FNA is gaining popularity amongst clinicians to differentiate between benign and malignant thyroid lesions. Therefore the aim of the study is to compare the cytological findings of thyroid lesions with clinical findings. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, 250 cases were subjected to perform FNAC in the Department of pathology of Jahurul Islam Medical College, Bajitpur, Kishoreganj from March 2019 to May 2020. Then the FNA findings were compared with the clinical findings and relevant data. Results: Out of 250 cases studied, 162(69.6%) cases were diagnosed as Benign. The most common benign lesion was nodular goitre. 45 (18%) cases were diagnosed as Inflammatory, 30 (12%) cases were diagnosed as Follicular lesions. 13 (5.20%) cases were diagnosed as malignant. Papillary carcinoma was the commonest malignancy. One case of medullary carcinoma was found. Conclusion: Only clinical evaluation is not enough for further management of thyroid swelling. We suggest that clinicopathological correlation can markedly reduce the false negative as well as false positive diagnosis and reduce unnecessary surgery.

Thyroid, Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), clinical characteristics, cytologic findings.

Thyroid gland is the largest endocrine gland in the body. It is the first endocrine organ to develop in fetal life. Even after 100 years, Thyroid gland has been the subject of interest for research and considerable attention due to the vast array of diseases. Various thyroid lesions including developmental, inflammatory, hyperplastic and neoplastic disorders are exceedingly common in clinical practice.’ Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology is a well-established procedure in the primary diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid disorders. FNAC is a rapid, easy and inexpensive diagnostic procedure." It is an invasive pre-operative investigation. Its simplicity and safety justify its use for “selective” surgery. The distinction of the benign and malignant thyroid lesions is very important because malignancy necessitates surgery; where strict patient follow-up is necessary in the case of a benign mass. And for this it is considered as the “gold standard” in the management of thyroid nodules.” FNAC is usually performed without local anesthesia and the patient does not require any previous preparation. The fundamental clinical assessment supplemented by FNA is capable of making the distinction between benign and malignant nodules in a large proportion of cases.** Therefore, the aim of our study is to assess the effectiveness of thyroid FNAC, as a simple procedure for the diagnosis of thyroid swelling and to compare various clinical features with the FNAC findings.