Differences in surgical resection rate and risk of malignancy in thyroid cytopathology practice between Western and Asian countries: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

There is increasing evidence showing that clinicians employ different management strategies in their use of The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC). In this meta‐analysis, we investigated the differences in diagnosis frequency, resection rate (RR), and risk of malignancy (ROM) between Western (ie, American and European) and Asian cytopathology practices. We searched PubMed and Web of Science from January 2010 to January 2019. Proportion and 95% CIs were calculated using a random‐effect model. We used independent sample t tests to compare frequencies, RR, and ROM between Western and Asian practices. We analyzed a total of 38 studies with 145,066 fine‐needle aspirations. Compared with Asian practice, Western series had a significantly lower ROM in most of TBSRTC categories, whereas the RR was not statistically different. Focusing on indeterminate nodules, the RR in Western series was significantly higher (51.3% vs 37.6%; P = .048), whereas the ROM was significantly lower (25.4% vs 41.9%; P = .002) compared with those in Asian series. The addition of Asian cohorts increased ROM for most of diagnostic categories compared with the original TBSRTC. In conclusion, this study demonstrates a difference in Western and Asian thyroid cytology practice, especially regarding the indeterminate categories. Lower RR and higher ROM suggest that Asian clinicians adopt a more conservative approach, whereas immediate diagnostic surgery is favored in Western practice for indeterminate nodules. The addition of Asian series into a meta‐analysis of TBSRTC altered ROM for several categories, which should be considered in future revisions of TBSRTC. There are certain differences in thyroid cytopathology practice between Western and Asian countries, which affect the major outputs of TBSRTC.