NOVEMBER 2017 | VOLUME 29 | ISSUE 11 Clinical THYROIDOLOGY ® 411 l © 2017 Validation of American Thyroid Association Ultrasound Risk Assessment of Thyroid Nodules Selected for Ultrasound Fine- Needle Aspiration Stephanie A. Fish, MD Tang, AL, Falciglia M, Yang H, Mark, JR, Steward DL. Validation of American Thyroid Association Ultrasound Risk Assessment of Thyroid Nodules Selected for Ultrasound Fine-Needle Aspiration. Thyroid 2017;27:1077-82. Epub July 18, 2017. SUMMARY Background Thyroid nodules are common. Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspi- ration (US-FNA) is the test of choice to evaluate thyroid nodules for possible malignancy. In 2015, the American Thyroid Associated (ATA) published updated guidelines regarding the evaluation and treatment of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer (1). The new guidelines recommend using a combination of the sonographic appearance and the size of the thyroid nodule to determine which nodules should be evaluated with US-FNA. The sonographic features associated with malignancy include micro- calcifications, taller-than-wide shape, marked hypoechogenicity, and irregular margins. The sonographic features associated with benign nodules include spongiform appearance or pure cysts. Within the guide- lines, the sonographic pattern is broken down into five categories, each with a different risk of malignancy. These include high (70–90%), inter- mediate (10–20%), low (5–10%), very low (<3%), and benign (<1%). In this study, the authors prospectively evaluated the ultrasound appearance of thyroid nodules and correlated this with cytology and surgical pathology results, when available, in order to validate the ATA sonographic risk-pattern categories. Clin Thyroidol 2017;29:411–414. Editor-in Chief Jerome M. Hershman, MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine Emeritus UCLA School of Medicine and VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Endocrinology 111D, 11301 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90073 jerome.hershman@ucla.edu Associate Editors: Martin Biermann, MD Professor of Nuclear Medicine, University of Bergen NM/PET-center, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway martin.biermann@uib.no Charles H. Emerson, MD Professor Emeritus of Medicine University of Massachusetts School of Medicine Worcester, MA charles.emerson@umassmed.edu Stephanie A. Fish, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, NY fshs@mskcc.org Tim I.M. Korevaar, MD, MSc Rotterdam Thyroid Center and Dept. of Epidemiology Erasmus University Medical Center The Netherlands t.korevaar@erasmusmc.nl Angela M. Leung, MD, MSc Division of Endocrinology, Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA amleung@mednet.ucla.edu Masha J. Livhits, MD Assistant Professor of Surgery UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA mlivhits@mednet.ucla.edu Jacques Orgiazzi, MD, Professor of Endocrinology, Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, University Lyon, France jacques.orgiazzi@chu-lyon.fr Elizabeth N. Pearce, MD, MSc Associate Professor of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine Boston, MA Elizabeth.pearce@bmc.org Wendy Sacks, MD Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Department of Medicine Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor University of California, Los Angeles wendy.sacks@cshs.org Stephen W. Spaulding, MD Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Department of Medicine, University at Buffalo, SUNY medspaul@buffalo.edu Michael W. Yeh, MD FACS Professor of Surgery and Medicine UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA myeh@mednet.ucla.edu President Charles H. Emerson, MD (2017–2018) Secretary/Chief Operating Offcer Victor J. Bernet, MD (2015–2019) Treasurer Julie Ann Sosa, MD (2017–2021) President-Elect Elizabeth N. Pearce, MD, MSc (2017–2018) Past-President John C. Morris, MD (2017–2018) Executive Director Barbara R. Smith, CAE Headquarters’ Offce, American Thyroid Association 6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 550, Falls Church,VA 22041 Telephone: 703-998-8890 • Fax: 703-998-8893 thyroid@thyroid.org • www.thyroid.org Designed By Karen Durland (kdurland@gmail.com) Clinical Thyroidology Copyright © 2017. American Thyroid Association, Inc. All rights reserved.