Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of thyroid nodules: assessment of the ideal number of punctures

objective: to determine the number of punctures in fine-needle aspiration biopsies required for a safe cytological analysis of thyroid nodules. materials and methods: cross-sectional study with focus on diagnosis. the study population included 94 patients. results: the mean age of the patients participating in the study was 52 years (standard-deviation = 13.7) and 90.4% of them were women. considering each puncture as an independent event, the first puncture has showed conclusive results in 78.7% of cases, the second, in 81.6%, and the third, in 71.8% of cases. with a view to the increasing chance of a conclusive diagnosis at each new puncture, two punctures have showed conclusive results in 89.5% of cases, and three punctures, in 90.6% of cases with at least one conclusive result. conclusion: two punctures in fine-needle aspiration biopsies of thyroid nodules have lead to diagnosis in 89.5% of cases in the study sample, suggesting that there is no need for multiple punctures to safely obtain the diagnosis of thyroid nodules.