Role of fine needle aspiration cytology, ultrasound and Tc^99m scan in the diagnosis of thyroid tuberculosis

Tuberculosis of thyroid gland is extremely rare. Although rare, tuberculosis of thyroid gland should be included in the differential diagnosis of thyroid masses, as thyroid mass is the common clinical presentation for neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions of thyroid. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) represents the cost effective first line approach to make the diagnosis and avoids unnecessary surgery. We report two cases of thyroid tuberculosis among 32,030 thyroid patients (0.006%) subjected to fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) over a period of 12 years from 1992–2004.