About one third of thyroid malignancies are found to be erroneous • Hadassah doctors have developed a new and accurate diagnostic method
Prof. Hagai Mazea and Dr. Ido Ben Dov. Research on connectivity to identify thyroid cancer // Photo: Courtesy of Hadassah
About a third of thyroid malignancies are found to be erroneous, but this problem may now be resolved. Doctors at Hadassah Medical Center have developed an innovative diagnostic method that may save patients from surgery to remove the thyroid gland and unnecessary treatments.
A total of 274 thyroid specimens (small nodules) were taken in the study - some benign and some malignant. The researchers were able to clearly distinguish malignant-benign relationships by examining levels of small sections of genetic material taken in a glandular biopsy.
In another experiment, samples were taken from another group of 35 connections, in which the tests did not give a definitive answer, and it was found that microRNA tests were able to correctly identify the contextual nature - whether benign or malignant - of 94 percent accuracy.
The study was led by Prof. Hagai MZA, director of the General Surgery and Endocrine Surgery Unit at Hadassah Mt. Scopus, and Dr. Ido Ben-Dov, senior physician and researcher in the hospital's nephrology department.
"The thyroid gland plays an important role. In addition to the surgery and its complications, removing the thyroid gland can create a permanent dependence on patients in the drug," explains Mizrah. MZA, "Identifying the high-accuracy contextual quality can help patients and physicians decide whether to undergo glandular removal, or monitor the connection."