Thyroid Nodules Located in the Lower Pole Have a Higher Risk of Malignancy than Located in the Isthmus: A Single-Center Experience

Table 2

Demographic and clinical features of benign and malignancy in fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) result.

Variables	FNAB
	Benign (n = 679)	Malignancy (n = 24)
Age	52.44 ± 12.82	50.38 ± 14.78	0.441
Gender
Female	545 (80.30)	19 (79.20)	0.799
Male	134 (19.70)	5 (20.80)
TSH (mIU/L)	1.32 (0.74–2.40)	2.00 (0.96–2.96)	0.115
Nodule size (mm)	18.20 (13.15–26.00)	15.25 (10.55–23.75)	0.088
<10	41 (6.10)	4 (16.70)	0.156
10–20	339 (50.10)	11 (45.80)
20–40	255 (37.70)	7 (29.20)
>40	42 (6.20)	2 (8.30)
Nodule number (n)	2.00 (1.00–4.00)	1.00 (1.00–2.00)	0.004
MTN
No	195 (28.80)^a	13 (54.20)^b	0.008
Yes	481 (71.20)^a	11 (45.80)^b
Hashimoto’s
No	610 (90.20)	21 (87.50)	0.723
Yes	66 (9.80)	3 (12.50)
Hyperthyroidism
No	641 (95.00)	24 (100.00)	0.999
TMNG	20 (3.00)	0 (0.00)
Graves	6 (0.90)	0 (0.00)
Iatrogenic	8 (1.20)	0 (0.00)

Data are expressed mean ± standard deviation n (%) and median (1st-3 rd. quartile). Similar letters on the same line indicate similarity between groups and different letters indicate differences between groups. TSH: thyroid stimulatingt hormone, mIU/L: milli-international units per liter; mm: millimeter; MTN: multinodularity, TMNG: toxic multinodulary goiter. Note. Bethesda category 5, because it estimated %100 malignant postoperatively, and it was evaluated in the malignant group.