J Pathol Transl Med.  2017 Nov;51(6):560-564. 10.4132/jptm.2017.09.20.

Thyroid Fine-Needle Aspiration in Taiwan: The History and Current Practice

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. crlai@vghtpe.gov.tw
  • 2School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

In Taiwan, thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine gland malignancy and the incidence of thyroid cancer has increased four-fold in the past two decades. Fine-needle aspiration is an accurate and cost-effective method of evaluating thyroid nodules and has been the gold-standard diagnostic tool for thyroid tumors in Taiwan since the 1980s. This article reviews the history, current practice, reporting systems, training, and quality assurance for thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytology in Taiwan.

Keyword

Thyroid; Biopsy, fine-needle; Cytology; Taiwan

MeSH Terms

Biopsy, Fine-Needle*
Endocrine Glands
Incidence
Methods
Taiwan*
Thyroid Gland*
Thyroid Neoplasms
Thyroid Nodule

Figure

  • Fig. 1. Thyroid cancer statistics from 2004 to 2014. The proportion of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) among thyroid cancers has increased 11% (blue line) and the proportion of thyroid cancer among all cancers has increased 1.1% (red line). Data from the Taiwan Cancer Registry Annual Report [1].

  • Fig. 2. The second edition of Thyroid and Parathyroid Cytology (Leader Book Company, 2015) [24] by Prof. Tien-Chung Chang.


Cited by  3 articles

The Use of Fine-Needle Aspiration (FNA) Cytology in Patients with Thyroid Nodules in Asia: A Brief Overview of Studies from the Working Group of Asian Thyroid FNA Cytology
Chan Kwon Jung, SoonWon Hong, Andrey Bychkov, Kennichi Kakudo
J Pathol Transl Med. 2017;51(6):571-578.    doi: 10.4132/jptm.2017.10.19.

Thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytology in Taiwan: a nationwide survey and literature update
Chien-Chin Chen, Jen-Fan Hang, Chih-Yi Liu, Yeh-Han Wang, Chiung-Ru Lai
J Pathol Transl Med. 2020;54(5):361-366.    doi: 10.4132/jptm.2020.07.17.

The Asian Thyroid Working Group, from 2017 to 2023
Kennichi Kakudo, Chan Kwon Jung, Zhiyan Liu, Mitsuyoshi Hirokawa, Andrey Bychkov, Huy Gia Vuong, Somboon Keelawat, Radhika Srinivasan, Jen-Fan Hang, Chiung-Ru Lai
J Pathol Transl Med. 2023;57(6):289-304.    doi: 10.4132/jptm.2023.10.04.


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