Study on the Application Value of Colloidal Gold Immunochromatography Assay Combined With Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy for Identifying Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the accuracy of a colloidal gold immunochromatography assay (GICA) for thyroglobulin detection and evaluate the diagnostic performance of the combined GICA and fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) methods in identifying lymph node metastasis among patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

Methods: Out of 97 PTC patients with suspicious cervical lymph nodes determined by the postoperative pathological diagnosis or the ultrasound-directed biopsy were chosen between January 2021 and October 2023. A total of 104 suspicious lymph nodes were detected via the GICA methods and the combined GICA and FNAB methods, respectively. The histological results were used as the gold standard. The accuracy and diagnostic performance were analyzed on the basis of the receiver operating characteristic curves.

Results: Among the 104 lymph nodes, 85 were positive and 19 were negative. For GICA methods, 47.92 ng/mL was the optimal cutoff value with a sensitivity of 93.98% and a specificity of 90.48% in the diagnosis of lymph node metastases. The accuracy of FNAB was 88.46%. The combined GICA and FNAB approach yielded an accuracy of 95.19%, a sensitivity of 96.39%, and a specificity of 90.48%.

Conclusion: GICA methods appeared to have high sensitivity and specificity for quickly diagnosing suspicious lymph nodes. The combined application of GICA and FNAB methods could improve the accuracy of the preoperative diagnosis and performed exceptionally well in diagnostic performance, providing a new convenient pathway for identifying lymph node metastases in clinical settings.