The main indication for fine–needle aspiration (FNA) of the thyroid is a thyroid nodule. Solitary thyroid nodule is defined clinically as the localized thyroid enlargement. The main aim of FNAC is to identify nodules that require surgery. The prevalence of thyroid nodules ranges from 4% to10% in the general adult population and from 0.2% to 1.2% in children. FNA has been shown to be the safest and most accurate of diagnostic tools in thyroid lesions  with a sensitivity as high as 93.4% and a specificity of 74.9%. FNAC is considered the gold standard diagnostic test in the evaluation of a thyroid nodule.

The present study is a retrospective study on 100 patients in Department of Pathology. The patients presented with primary complaints or incidental findings of neck swelling in the Department of Surgery and Department of ENT. FNAC was performed on these patients and only those thyroid swelling cases that  underwent surgery were included in this study. After histopathologic study they were compared with preoperative FNAC report. Statistical analysis of neoplastic lesions showed sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of FNAC to be 67%, 94%, 84%, 100%, and 94%, respectively.vIn conclusion, FNAC is a very useful method for screening of thyroid lesions in third world countries with a very high specificity and sensitivity. The false negative cases can be attributed to technical errors in performing the procedure or the presence of small papillary microcarcinomas, which can be confirmed only after the surgical excision of the thyroid gland.