INTRODUCTIONUltrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (US-FNAC) of thyroid nodules is an important diagnostic procedure. In most hospitals, patients are referred to radiologists for US-FNAC, but this often results in a long waiting time before results are available. Surgeon-performed US-FNAC (SP-US-FNAC) during the initial patient consultation attempts to reduce the waiting time but it is not known whether this is as accurate as radiologist-performed US-FNAC (RP-US-FNAC). The aim of this study is to compare the clinical efficiency between SP-US-FNAC and RP-US-FNAC.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA retrospective study was performed on patients from the Department of General Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) who underwent an US-FNAC from August 2011 to May 2012. All cases of SP-US-FNAC were performed by a single surgeon. This study compared the rates of positive diagnoses achieved by SP-US-FNAC and RPUS- FNAC as well as the time interval to reach a cytological diagnosis by each group.

RESULTSA total of 40 cases of SP-US-FNAC and 72 cases of RP-US-FNAC were included in the study. SP-US-FNAC resulted in 28 (70%) positive diagnoses and 12 (30%) nondiagnoses while RP-US-FNAC resulted in 47 (65.3%) positive diagnoses and 25 (34.7%) non-diagnoses. These results were comparable (P=0.678). The median time taken to reach a cytological diagnosis was 1 working day for SP-US-FNAC and 29.5 working days for RP-US-FNAC resulting in a shorter interval to reaching a cytological diagnosis for SP-US-FNAC (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONIn the workup of thyroid nodules, SP-US-FNAC is as accurate as RP-US-FNAC but significantly reduces the time taken to reach a cytological diagnosis. This leads to greater clinical efficiency in the management of patients with thyroid nodules, which in turn leads to other benefits such as decreased patient anxiety and increased patient satisfaction.

Adult ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Image-Guided Biopsy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Specialties, Surgical ; Thyroid Nodule ; pathology ; Time Factors

INTRODUCTIONAwake craniotomy allows accurate localisation of the eloquent brain, which is crucial during brain tumour resection in order to minimise risk of neurologic injury. The role of the anaesthesiologist is to provide adequate analgesia and sedation while maintaining ventilation and haemodynamic stability in an awake patient who needs to be cooperative during neurological testing. We reviewed the anaesthetic management of patients undergoing an awake craniotomy procedure.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe records of all the patients who had an awake craniotomy at our institution from July 2004 till June 2006 were reviewed. The anaesthesia techniques and management were examined. The perioperative complications and the outcome of the patients were noted.

RESULTSThere were 17 procedures carried out during the study period. Local anaesthesia with moderate to deep sedation was the technique used in all the patients. Respiratory complications occurred in 24% of the patients. Hypertension was observed in 24% of the patients. All the complications were transient and easily treated. During cortical stimulation, motor function was assessed in 16 patients (94%). Three patients (16%) had lesions in the temporal-parietal region and speech was assessed intraoperatively. Postoperative motor weakness was seen in 1 patient despite uneventful intraoperative testing. No patient required intensive care unit stay. The median length of stay in the high dependency unit was 1 day and the median length of hospital stay was 9 days. There was no in-hospital mortality.

CONCLUSIONAwake craniotomy for brain tumour excision can be successfully performed under good anaesthetic conditions with careful titration of sedation. Our series showed it to be a well-tolerated procedure with a low rate of complications. The benefits of maximal tumour excision can be achieved, leading to potentially better patient outcome.

Adult ; Aged ; Anesthesia, Local ; methods ; Anesthetics, Local ; administration & dosage ; Brain Neoplasms ; surgery ; Conscious Sedation ; Craniotomy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Audit ; Middle Aged ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Perioperative Care ; Singapore