A member asked:

Complex thyroid nodule biopsied said to be benign... now regardless of the diagnosis... could it be possible that nodule is cancerous and biopsy missed it?

2 doctors weighed in across 2 answers

Yes: I assume you are talking about a needle biopsy. The larger the nodule, the greater the chance of sampling error. For small nodules (1-2.5 cm) sampling error is low. With nodules approaching 4 cm in diameter the sampling error becomes unacceptable. Those nodules need to be removed, usually as part of a thyroid lobectomy (removing half the gland) or a total thyroidectomy.

Answered 4/3/2013

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Possibly: Thyroid nodules are notoriously difficult to interpret biopsy results, because the nodules themselves are often "complex" meaning non-uniform, and thus one portion may look benign while the other malignant, .

Answered 10/4/2016

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