ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Genetics
Integrating TBSRTC Subcategorization and BRAF V600E Testing for Precision Management of Bethesda III Thyroid Nodules: A WHO 5th Edition-Based Study Highlighting Subtype-Specific Diagnostic Disparities
Provisionally accepted
Qing Yu*
Qing Yu*- People’s Hospital of Deyang City, Deyang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This study retrospectively analyzed 180 Bethesda III thyroid nodules with histological follow-up. Malignancy rate was 62.2%, predominantly PTC. Multivariate analysis identified nodule size <1 cm and the "nuclear atypia" cytological subcategory as independent predictors of malignancy. BRAF V600E testing showed 82.0% sensitivity and 100% specificity for PTC, but performance was subtype-dependent (classical PTC: 90.2% vs. FVPTC: 40.0%). A risk-stratified algorithm combining cytomorphologic and molecular features could reduce unnecessary surgeries by 25-30% while maintaining high diagnostic accuracy.
Keywords: Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration, Bethesda system, atypia of undetermined significance (AUS), BRAF V600E, Papillary thyroid carcinoma, follicular variant, risk stratification, Molecular diagnostics
Received: 09 Aug 2025; Accepted: 01 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Qing Yu
Qing Yu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.