[Reliability of needle biopsy of solitary thyroid nodules in view of surgical indications].

To evaluate the accuracy of fine-needle biopsy in the management of the solitary thyroid nodules, 320 biopsies without aspiration were performed in 212 patients, iteratively in 91 cases. Among the 212 initial biopsies, 93 smears were found presumably benign (43.9%), 6 malignant (2.8%), 49 benign implying cytologic control (23.1%), 24 suspicious with decision to operate (11.3%), 40 inadequate (18.9%). On 67 surgical indications (malignant or suspicious cytology, or clinical data), 59 operations were performed. The 11 diagnosed cancers (5.2% of the patients; 18.6% of the operations) correspond to six malignant and five suspicious cytologies at the first or second biopsy. On 145 cases without decision to operate, 125 were clinically surveyed, with sometimes another biopsy (mean survey: 27.6 months; range: 6-80 months), and it was never necessary to modify the initial expectancy attitude. Our results, rather similar to those related by most of the previous publications, confirm that the fine-needle biopsy is a reliable and effective means for the etiologic diagnosis of thyroid nodules and the indications for operative intervention. It spares many patients from a useless operation and is worthy to take a leading place in exploring these nodules.