Support for a FNA for thyroid nodules

Posted by suecutuli @suecutuli, Jul 30 10:49am

I’m having a FNA for suspicious nodules on my thyroid. I have SO many other issues - mainly pain, but this has me a little concerned and I wonder what you all think about the science that says a FNA can seed cancer cells?? Ugh

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Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Jul 30 1:18pm

@suecutuli I have had biopsies on a number of thyroid nodules over the past 30 years, and in my experience, the worst part of thyroid fine-needle biopsies is the bruising afterwards. The latest ones were done with much more precise ultrasound guidance than in the past, so even that is less now.
This seems to be an exceedingly low risk - one that has been studied for years - here is a report from a Mayo Clinic study;
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-researchers-find-cancer-biopsies-do-not-promote-cancer-spread/
And another from the American Cancer Society, published last year:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/latest-news/can-getting-a-biopsy-make-cancer-spread.html
Finally, looking only at thyroid biopsies over 10 years (2012 - 2022), the following was concluded:
"Needle tract implantation of thyroid malignancies was described in three studies reporting 0.02% to 0.19% of the incidence rate."
In other words, somewhere between 2/1000 and 2/10000 biopsies potentially spread malignant cells. Compared to the risk of failing to diagnose the cancer in early stages, that is LOW risk.
https://www.e-enm.org/journal/view.php?number=2379
So, I would say the risk of spreading any malignant cells is VERY small.

Do you have any citable studies (not AI summaries) that show a higher risk?