Impact of Afirma gene expression classifier on cytopathology diagnosis and rate of thyroidectomy

CONCLUSIONSThe incidence of indeterminate FNA diagnoses significantly increased after Afirma became routinely available, whereas the incidence of benign diagnoses significantly decreased. These data suggest that Afirma may shift FNA interpretation toward Bethesda III/IV, in which molecular testing is used. Moreover, the institutional rates of surgery and malignancy did not appear to change, raising uncertainty regarding the benefits of molecular assay risk stratification. Afirma may produce unintended collateral effects, increasing the number of indeterminate FNA diagnoses while not affecting the institutional thyroidectomy rate or malignancy yield. Cancer Cytopathol 2016. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Source: Cancer Cytopathology - May 31, 2016 Category: Pathology Authors: Wendy L. Sacks, Shikha Bose, Zachary S. Zumsteg, Ronnie Wong, Stephen L. Shiao, Glenn D. Braunstein, Allen S. Ho Tags: Original Article Source Type: research