Annual increase in the frequency of papillary thyroid carcinoma as diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration at a cytology unit in Sicily

OBJECTIVE An increased frequency of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has been reported in the literature, including studies based on fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). DESIGN To substantiate our own ascertainment of such an increase, we retrieved all the diagnoses of ultrasound-guided FNAC which was performed on 11,389 patients referred for cytological evaluation of a single or dominant thyroid nodule from 1988 to 2010. FNAC yielded 11,258 adequate specimens. RESULTS The number of patients with PTC was 200 (age 10–83 yrs) and increased significantly from 1988 to 2010 (r= 0.916, P