Comparison of fine-needle and coarse-needle biopsies in evaluating thyroid nodules.

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of fine-needle biopsy (FNB) and coarse-needle biopsy (CNB) in evaluating patients with dominant thyroid nodules. Five hundred twenty-six patients were seen because of solitary thyroid nodules. Three hundred of these underwent satisfactory CNB and FNB. Using the incidence of cancer found at operation as a guide to the specificity of the biopsy, CNB was better than FNB in determining underlying pathologic condition. The main difference between the two techniques was the inability of FNB to distinguish adenomatous hyperplasia from true adenoma. FNB, however, was as good as most older techniques in selecting patients for surgery. The main limitation of CNB was that it could only be applied on 69% of solid lesions.