Sonographic guidance of thyroid needle biopsy.

: We describe a new technique for sonographically guided needle biopsy of the thyroid using high-resolution real-time ultrasound. It proved to be highly effective for obtaining diagnostic samples from thyroid nodules in 13 of 14 patients who otherwise could not have a diagnostic thyroid aspiration because their nodules were in difficult locations or were not palpable. We believe that sonographic guidance will be important to those physicians employing thyroid needle biopsy.