FNA and mass

[wildpoppy]

Hi all

Recently posted on here about my sister. She was told she had a mass 2.5cm on thyroid and that they were doing FNA to rule out the obvious, although there was no evidence of any vascular activity but it had some 'unusal properties'.

Ok, to begin with, she had a FNA and then told it had to be repeated due to not enough cells collected. She went back 2nd time.

Today she received a letter saying that the results were inconclusive and therefore has to return on 28th December for a THIRD FNA! Wow. Is this common procedure??

Also, she has been told that actually the mass is 28x40mm... Is this big? Or normal.

Now that they have told her the size she has freaked out a bit (understandably)... She won't even touch her neck

I know no one can say what it is, I know 95% are benign... But is size indicative? Also it seems to be non round? Significance?

Thank you

[wildpoppy]

Thank you for all that info, I will check it out... It says on her letter 'low reflectivity and heterogeneous' which is not so good but doesn't of course at this stage mean anything... Ugh! Thanks again

[Tamzin27]

Hi wildpoppy,

I totally understand what your sister is going through. I had a hemithyroidectomy in 2007 and a total thyroidectomy 4 weeks ago as on both occasions, my FNA came back as inconclusive. Due to the pain and other symptoms I was having, I chose to have a total thyroidectomy. My endocrinologist did offer to monitor the multiple nodules I had, which would have meant several FNAs. To be honest, I was so stressed and in a lot of pain, that I thought I would rather have my thyroid removed than worry about the nodules turning malignant, if they were not. The worry and stress of not knowing if it is benign or malignant would have been too much for me. I should find out about the results on the 12th after I see my surgeon. If your sister has a good endo who is willing to work with her and listen to her concerns, she could ask her endo about the different options available. Your sister is lucky to have you.

Take care

Tamzin27

[wildpoppy in reply to Tamzin27]

Thank you for your kind words... I completely see and understand what you are saying, the stress of waiting is awful. I guess having 3 FNA adds the time on for her, so it's just frustrating... I'm sure most people can sympathise with a waiting game! Thanks for your kind words

[Clutter]

Wildpoppy,

It's not unusual to have 2 or 3 FNA's due to inconclusive results. 28mm = 2.8cm. Not sure why your sister is freaked out by 2.8cm but not 2.5cm. Size is significant. A larger tumour is more likely to be malignant.

[wildpoppy in reply to Clutter]

She had thought the 2.5 was the longest, and had not been told about 4cm. Thanks

[wildpoppy]

Ok, thank you. Wow.. That's awful about the aneurism...

I will get in to my sister about getting hold of it, thank you