When a person has three thyroid nodules present, they are usually recommended to have a Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) with a guided ultrasound. Once the sample is collected and sent for testing a cytotechnologist and then a pathologist will interrupt the results. When I was doing my clinical rotations for my certificate in cytology I was told that thyroid FNAs were considered our “bread and butter”. Now, I didn’t realize what that meant at that time in my career, I just thought okay, this hospital gets a lot of thyroid FNAs but what about other hospitals? Thus, nearly ten years into cytology I realize that thyroid FNAs are so common no matter where you are located that they will keep me in my job providing me with my income to support my family.
