Has anyone had a false positive on a FNA?

Perstephanie
Perstephanie Member Posts: 26
edited March 2014 in Thyroid Cancer #1
I'm only asking because before I had my FNA results back my endocrinologist told a med student in front of me that it had been a bad idea for the ENT doctor to do the FNA when my thyroid was diffusely inflamed on both sides - for some reason the endocrinologist couldn't palpate the nodule at that time but the ENT guy could and did the FNA without ultrasound guidance - because Hashimoto's can make a non-cancerous FNA look like cancer - and then a few hours later I heard that my FNA looked like cancer, but when I went back in and asked the endocrinologist how they had differentiated between the results being indicative of cancer versus Hashimoto's, he seemed irritated and didn't really answer me. I have no reason to believe that I don't have cancer, and I do believe that I do, but from what I've found on PubMed etc, it looks like the only time they really get a false positive on an FNA it's when you have Hashimoto's, so I'm just wondering whether anyone here has had that experience. After I went on Synthroid the inflammation went back down and after that my endocrinologist was able to palpate the nodule (tumor), but those two doctors have basically told me literally directly opposing things on almost every issue that's come up, which I think might explain why I'm having a hard time just blindly trusting any of the doctors I've seen (seriously, every single one tells me something different).

Comments

  • bribeauty25
    bribeauty25 Member Posts: 10
    #2
    I'm not sure about the false
    I'm not sure about the false positive. My results of FNA were I guess inconclusive. They told me it looked like cancer,but it also could not be. I had a surgery to remove the left lobe and it was then determined it was follicular carcinoma. Then another surgery to remove the other lobe. From my understanding if they cannot tell for sure if it is or is not cancer the routine thing to do is to remove it surgically to be absolute. Are you having surgery or are your doctors figting over this? I would feel uncomfortable letting it go....
    Don't trust anyone if you feel unsure! Get different doctors if you have to, but remember you are in control of your health care! Good luck to you. I hope this helped a little!! Keep me updated!
  • Perstephanie
    Perstephanie Member Posts: 26
    #3
    bribeauty25 said:

    I'm not sure about the false
    I'm not sure about the false positive. My results of FNA were I guess inconclusive. They told me it looked like cancer,but it also could not be. I had a surgery to remove the left lobe and it was then determined it was follicular carcinoma. Then another surgery to remove the other lobe. From my understanding if they cannot tell for sure if it is or is not cancer the routine thing to do is to remove it surgically to be absolute. Are you having surgery or are your doctors figting over this? I would feel uncomfortable letting it go....
    Don't trust anyone if you feel unsure! Get different doctors if you have to, but remember you are in control of your health care! Good luck to you. I hope this helped a little!! Keep me updated!

    Yeah, my doctor pretty much
    Yeah, my doctor pretty much said regardless of anything they can't say for sure until they remove it. Synthroid so far has made me really depressed, anxious, health palpitations, exhausted, etc, so since I keep being told it's supposed to be exactly like having a regular thyroid, and my doctors keep telling my things that directly contradict things other doctors tell me, I seriously don't trust anyone.

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