Thyroid nodules are identified incidentally in 4% to 10% of the general population in the US.1,2 Clinicians and patients often are concerned about potential malignancy when thyroid nodules are identified because 5% to 15% of nodules will be cancerous.1 The most common form of cancer is papillary carcinoma followed by follicular carcinoma.2 Initially, serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels and thyroid ultrasound are used to evaluate a thyroid nodule because both tests can reveal vital information about malignancy potential.3 Ultrasound characteristics, such as macrocalcifications, hypoechogenicity, absence of halo, increased vascularity, and irregular nodular margins, increase suspicion for malignancy and warrant further investigation.3
Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is the modality of choice for evaluation of thyroid nodules with sensitivity and specificity > 90%.2,4 Most patients receive a definitive diagnosis with this test; however, about 25% of cases are indeterminate based on the Bethesda System and require surgical investigation.3
Currently, it is well accepted clinical practice to refer all nodules > 4 cm for surgical intervention regardless of malignancy risk factors or the mass effect of the nodule.3-6 The preference for surgery—rather than FNA—is because of the notable false negative rate with FNA in larger nodules; studies have described false negative rates for FNA close to 10%.7,8 In contrast, Megwalu recently reported a FNA false negative rate of 0%.9
The risk of malignancy associated with nodule size has been researched for many years, but studies have produced conflicting results. In this retrospective cohort study, the authors compared malignancy rates between patients with nodules ≥ 3 cm and those with nodules < 3 cm.
Methods
The authors performed a retrospective chart review of the medical records of 329 patients presenting for thyroid nodule evaluation found on physical exam or incidentally identified with imaging at the Dayton Veteran Affairs Medical Center from January 2000 to May 2016. Data collection included sex, age, race, personal history of neck radiation treatment, family history of thyroid cancer, personal history of thyroid cancer, hot nodules/Graves disease, abnormal neck lymph nodes, and serum TSH levels. The authors looked for an association between TSH level and cancer. Hot thyroid nodules are known to have low risk of malignancy.
All patients aged 18 to 99 years with a thyroid nodule evaluated with FNA were included in the study. Patients were divided into 2 groups, those with nodules ≥ 3 cm and those with nodules < 3 cm. For nodules requiring subsequent biopsies, only the initial nodule biopsy was included in our study. The 3-cm cutoff was selected based on previous studies.1,5,10 Patients who did not undergo a FNA study were excluded. Indications for surgery were positive FNA results, suspicious imaging, size of nodule, or patient preference.
Means and standard deviations are reported for continuous variables and counts and percentages for categorical variables. We used the Mann-Whitney test for comparisons involving continuous variables with 2 groups and the Kruskal-Wallis test for 4 groups. The chi-square test—corrected for continuity if necessary—was used to compare 2 categorical variables. We used multiple logistic regression to adjust for demographic and clinical variables other than nodule size that were related to malignancy. Inferences were made at the 0.05 level of significance.
