Department of Radiology, Research Institute of Radiological Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea. ekkim@yuhs.ac
Published online: March 1, 2011.
ABSTRACT
Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is an accurate and cost effective diagnostic tool for differentiating malignant and benign thyroid nodules. Despite the efforts of the Papanicolaou group to standardize thyroid cytopathology reporting, no universal standard reporting system exists to date. Pathologists believe that clinicians sufficiently understand FNAB cytological reports. However, this is not necessarily the case. There is often a significant gap between pathologists' beliefs and the clinicians' understanding. As a result, we propose "The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology" by the National Cancer Institute. In this editorial, we briefly introduce the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology.