Morphometric Evaluation of Fine Needle Biopsy of Single Thyroid Nodules

Summary Area, perimeter, maximum diameter and form factors of nuclei of FNABs of thyroid nodules were measured with a MOP Videoplan. 23 cases were selected from patients with a scintigraphically cold single thyroid nodule. The mean values of area, perimeter and maximum diameter were significantly different (p Although the analyses gave significant results, a certain amount of overlap of the benign and malignant populations was present; therefore the significance of the standard deviation, assumed to be an index o f variability ofthe nuclear area, was evaluated and this parameter was found to discriminate the two populations. The standard deviation of the nuclear area measured in 14 cases diagnosed as suspicious gave 77% accuracy in discriminating benign from malignant cases.