Thyroid Lesions as Diagnosed by Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology in Uganda: A Five Year Retrospective Study

Abstract Background Fine needle aspiration cytology of the thyroid gland has proven to be effective in the categorization of thyroid lesions into benign, atypical, suspicious and malignant categories. However only scanty data has been available regarding the prevalence of thyroid lesions in Uganda. This study aimed at classifying thyroid lesions cytologically and to determine their correlation with the social demographic characteristics. Methodology: A laboratory based retrospective study involving a review of 170 cases was conducted at MAKCHS pathology department between 2012 and 2016. FNA results were independently categorized into 4 groups in accordance to Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology. The data collected was entered using Epidata software and exported to SPSS for analysis. Results Out of the 170 cases reviewed, 148 (87.1%) were benign, 3 (1.8%) were suspicious for Follicular Neoplasm, 5 (2.9%) were suspicious of malignancy & 14 (8.2%) were malignant. Colloidal nodule (41.2%) was most prevalent lesion among the benign cases, followed by Follicular adenoma (25.3%). Malignant category was dominated by papillary carcinoma (7.1%). The peak age group for benign lesions was 40–49 years whereas the peak age group for malignant lesions was 40–49 years & 50-59years age group. Conclusion The present findings are consistent with those published in other literature with benign lesions showing predominance over the malignant lesions. Sex and age were found to be associated with a specific diagnosis with the females being most affected as well as those in the older groups.