Comparison Of 22G And 25G Needles For Determining Sample Satisfaction Rate In The Aspiration Cytology Of Hypervascular Thyroid Nodules

Objective: Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology(US-FNAC)currently has no unified international standard.The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 22G and 25G needles on the quality of thyroid nodule specimens.Methods: This study was a prospective study involving 166 patients(166 nodules)undergoing fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodules from January 2018 to January2019.Ultrasound guidance was performed on all nodules with 22G and 25G Fine needle aspiration aspirate cytology.According to the Adler classification method,the internal blood flow of the thyroid nodule was divided into no blood supply group(Adler0),low blood supply group(Adler 1),medium blood supply(Adler 2)and rich blood supply(Adler Level 3).According to the size of the nodule maximum diameter,it is divided into <5mm group,5-10 mm group,10-20 mm group,and> 20 mm group.All specimens were examined by cytopathological smear.The specimens were classified according to the Bethesda classification.Bethesda Ⅰ was recorded as satisfactory,and Bethesda Ⅱ-Ⅳ was recorded as unsatisfactory.The order of 22G and 25G needle puncture was performed according to the random table,and the satisfaction rate of the two fine needles for thyroid nodule puncture was compared.Results: The satisfaction rate of 22G needle aspiration of thyroid nodules was 83.1%(138/166),while the satisfaction rate of 25G needle aspiration of thyroid nodules was89.8%(149/166).There was no statistically significant difference between 22G and25G needles in terms of the sample satisfaction rate(P=0.07).There was no statistically significant difference in satisfaction rates between the 22G and 25G needle puncture specimens of nodules in the no blood supply group,low blood supply group,and medium blood supply group.However,the sample satisfaction rate of a hypervascular group showed significant difference(84.5% vs 93.6%,P=0.03).There were no significant differences in satisfaction rates between the 22G and 25G needle puncture specimens of the four groups of thyroid nodules of different sizes.Conclusion: 25G needles can aspirate adequate material for cytopathological diagnosis,it may have a higher satisfaction rate in nodules with rich blood supply.