In a large trial of 3,789 patients conducted at several medical centers in the US, researchers used a new gene expression test to identify which thyroid nodules with inconclusive biopsies had high risk for being cancer. They tested 265 nodules with unclear biopsy results. Eighty-five of them turned out to be malignant, confirmed after surgery. The new test correctly detected 78 of them as suspicious. In an accompanying editorial, J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania wrote that the new test could eliminate 25,000 thyroid surgeries each year. Read more here.
Study mentioned: Alexander EK, et al. Preoperative diagnosis of benign thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytology. N Engl J Med. 2012 Aug 23;367(8):705-15. PMID: 22731672
Editorial: Jameson JL. Minimizing unnecessary surgery for thyroid nodules. N Engl J Med. 2012 Aug 23;367(8):765-7. PMID: 22731671
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