Thyroglobulin levels in needle lymph node cytology for the detection of papillary thyroid cancer recurrence Utilidad de la detección de tiroglobulina en el aspirado de punción ganglionar cervical en el seguimiento de pacientes con cáncer papilar de tiroid

Background: During the detection of neck recurrence in patients win Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC), sometimes it is difficult to distinguish metastatic from inflammatory neck lymph nodes. The measurement of serum thyroglobulin (sTg) under thyroid hormone suppression therapy, me presence of serum, thyroghbulin antibodies (sAbTg), the diagnostic whole body scan and cytology can give false negative results. Masurement of thyroglobulin in me washout fluid from fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of suspicious neck lymph nodes could improve the diagnostic accuracy. Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of detecting Tg in lymph nodes (LTg) suspicious by ultrasonography (LE) and compare it to cytology. Patients and Methods: Between the years 2004 and 2007 we prospectively studied 30 patients with PTC and cervical IE findings of suspicious recurrence. LTg was assayed in IB guided FNAB used for cytology. Results: Sixteen out of 30 patients underwent surgery using as selective criteria an LTg hig