Needle Biopsy of the Thyroid Gland

Abstract

ALTHOUGH goiters are usually easily palpable and laboratory tests have become more helpful, the clinical diagnosis of thyroid disease is still often unreliable, and conclusive evidence of the nature of any particular goiter is frequently lacking. Surgery is often advised to settle the problem. The differential diagnosis of chronic thyroiditis, for instance, has always been a particularly fertile field of confusion. Marshall and Meissner1 reported a correct preoperative diagnosis of only 17.5 per cent in 114 cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Lindsay and his associates2 found that only 20 per cent of the preoperative diagnoses of goiters, subsequently found to be . . .